Kurama's Stalker
by crazykitsune17
Summary: Kurama receives an anonymous love note in his locker one day and for the next few weeks tries to figure out who exactly she is. The stalker is not an OC, it is a character from the show. There are also other underlying pairings just for fun. FINISHED!
1. Chapter 1

**Kurama's Stalker**

by crazykitsune17

**A/N:** This was originally written in April 2004. I have only gone through to edit spelling and grammar and occasional dialogue. Everything else is as it was before, so expect it to be… possibly not my best. This isn't as bad as other stuff I've written though. Also, just so everyone knows, the YYH characters all attend the same high school in this fic - "Black Panda High". In this fic, Kurama has an adopted sister. Her name is Luna, and she's 12. She has magical ice powers, and she knows about Kurama's youko self, his powers, and all that. I try not to focus too much on her, though. (this was written before my Mary-Sue-ing days were over) Please read and review!

**Anonymous Love Note and the 70 Million Search Results**

It was a bright Monday morning at Black Panda High School. The springtime sun was shining; there wasn't a cloud in sight. The weather was beautiful, and so were the people who attended the prestigious school. Among the beautiful people was Suichi Minamino.

"Good morning, Suichi!" the girls cried as he walked down the hall to his locker. Suichi waved, flashing his beautiful smile at them. The girls giggled and started whispering about him to each other.

Suichi, also known as Kurama, rolled his eyes at their folly. 17… 31… 17… The lock clicked open, and Kurama opened up his locker. There was his neat stack of textbooks, his notebooks, his pencil case, the magnet picture of his mother; everything was in order. The books were all arranged by class subject; his first class's textbook on top, the last class on the bottom. The locker smelled like roses as usual, thanks to his special rose-scented air freshener. Kurama smiled, happy he was back at his school and not on some mission with the Reikai Tantei. He had missed his school, his classmates (even the annoying ones), and his teachers. Grabbing his calculus textbook, a piece of paper fell from between the pages and onto the floor.

Setting down his book, he bent down and reached for the scrap of paper. Kurama's human name was written on the front in impeccably neat handwriting on pink stationery paper. Unfolding it, Kurama saw that it was a note.

_Suichi,_

_Please meet me after school in the west side parking lot. I have something very important to tell you. Do not tell anyone about this note. Don't forget._

_Love,_

_Anonymous._

Kurama reread the note, wondering who had sent it. He also wondered what that person meant by "something very important to tell you". He hoped it wasn't another mission from Koenma. But if it wasn't, what could it be?

Finally, the school day was done, and Kurama hurried to his locker to put everything away. He wanted to get outside to meet whoever it was that sent him the note. Heeding the note, he had not told anyone about it. Kurama hurried through his obsessive-compulsive straightening of his books, making sure they were all in the correct order. Kurama locked his locker and grabbed his jacket, wanting to get outside as quickly as possible. He was so anxious to meet whoever it was that he was supposed to meet, that he almost forgot to bring home his script for the drama club play he was in. Rushing back to his locker, he found it and stuffed it in his backpack, making sure to put it in the green folder, not the red one.

Sprinting to the west side parking lot, Kurama spotted a dark figure standing against a tree in the back of the lot. Kurama ran over to it, wondering if it was the person who had sent him the note.

Whoever it was, it was wearing a dark cloak draped around its shoulders. The person also had a black head covering, showing nothing but its eyes. Kurama slowly approached it, wondering if it was the right person.

"Excuse me, but did you put a note in my locker this morning telling me to come and meet you?" he asked, setting his backpack down.

The person nodded.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked. "And why are you dressed like that?"

"I can't tell you who I am," the person said. Kurama recognized the voice as a female's. "I'm dressed like this because I don't want you to know who I am. I'm not ready to tell you yet."

"What did you want to tell me?"

The woman looked away for a moment, contemplating whether or not she should tell him. After a moment, she glanced back and stared deep into Kurama's emerald green eyes. Taking a deep breath, she replied, "I love you."

Kurama wasn't sure what to say to that. He was half-expecting to hear something about a new mission in the Makai, or that his sister died, or that someone had put poison in the hot lunch that morning. He was not expecting to hear a love confession. However, he had heard so many before, that this really wasn't a big surprise. Kurama just stared at the girl and said nothing.

The girl looked down sadly, pushing the dirt around with her toe. "I knew it," she said softly. "I knew you wouldn't like me back…" She turned around and started walking out of the parking lot.

Kurama stood there for a second, unable to comprehend what just happened. "Hey!" he called, jogging after her. "Wait! Don't go! I don't even know who you are—" He stopped, realizing that she wasn't going to come back. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he went back and picked up his stuff and walked home, the same question burning in his mind: _Who is she?_

"Hi, Suichi," Kurama's mother greeted him as he walked into his house and set his stuff down on the floor. "Did you have a good day?"

"Yes, I did," Kurama answered casually, heading straight to his big, overstuffed easy chair that he liked to watch TV in. He sat down and stared at the blank television set, trying to think of a way to figure out who the girl was. Shiori looked at him strangely, then shrugged and went into another room.

_I couldn't see much of her face… Nothing except her eyes… And a lot of girls have brown eyes… There's no way I could narrow it down with just that!_

Kurama was so preoccupied with his thoughts, that he didn't even notice the doorbell ringing. Shiori opened the door and welcomed the guests in. Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Hiei entered the Minamino house and stood over by Kurama. Kurama was stuck in the "thinking position", and didn't notice that anyone was there until Yusuke clapped his hands in front of his face.

"Earth to Suichi!" Yusuke yelled, making sure he used Kurama's human name in his house. "Hi!"

Kurama blinked, surprised to see his friends surrounding him. "Oh! Hello," he said. "I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. What is it?"

"Nothin'," said Kuwabara. "We just wanna hang."

"You seem kinda… out-of-it today," said Yusuke. "Whatcha thinkin' about?"

"I received a note this morning," Kurama replied.

"Ooh, was it a note from the principal saying you've finally got a detention?" Yusuke asked.

"No," Kurama said shortly. "And I don't ever plan on seeing one of those. No, it was an anonymous love note."

Kuwabara rolled his eyes. "What a surprise… So, who is it?"

"The word 'anonymous' means we don't know," said Hiei. "You're the one who goes to school, and yet I know more vocabulary words than you do."

"Hey! Shut it, buddy! I don't need to know no vocab words to be smart! I got the street smarts, and that's all that matters!"

"Psh. Whatever…"

"She told me to meet her after school," Kurama continued. "But she was dressed in all black, and I couldn't see her face. She ran off without me being able to say anything."

"Huh. Well that was nice of her," said Yusuke. "She could've at least kissed you or something…"

"What's this?" asked Luna, Kurama's sister, who came pounding down the stairs as he said that. "Does Suichi have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, an anonymous one," said Kuwabara.

"Hm. Interesting," Luna said. "Maybe you should do an online search for 'Suichi fangirls' and see what you come up with. You just might find a lead." Laughing, she grabbed the remote and clicked on the TV.

Kurama thought for a moment. "Hm… Not a bad idea…" he said, standing up to go into the computer room.

Luna stared. "What, you're not serious are you?" she asked. "'Cuz I was just joking…"

Kurama sat at his computer desk, opening up Internet Explorer. Using a Google search, he typed in "Suichi Minamino Fangirls". Yusuke and Kuwabara's jaws dropped as the saw the results on the top of the page:

70,000,000 results found.

Kurama moaned and put his head on the desk. "That doesn't help me much…" he sighed. "How am I supposed to know which one is the one who sent me the note?"

"One way to find out," said Yusuke, smirking. "Write letters to all of them."

Kuwabara was still in shock at the large number on the screen. "I can't even count that high!" he said in astonishment. "Let me try that!" Taking the keyboard, he typed in "Kazuma Kuwabara Fangirls". The page reloaded and came up with:

"Kuwabara Fangirls: 7 results found."

"SEVEN!"

"And five of those are 'Yusuke/Kuwabara Yaoi' fansites," Hiei said, reading the captions. "That's pretty sad…"

"You know what, computer?" Kuwabara said, poking it. "I don't like you…"

"Do you realize it's foolish to talk to an inanimate object?" Hiei asked.

"You!" Kuwabara seethed, poking Hiei as well.

"Don't touch me…"

"You better shut up before I make you an inanimate object!"

"Do you even know what the word 'inanimate' means?"

Kuwabara didn't answer.

"Well," said Kurama. "I'd better start writing letters to the fangirls…"

Yusuke laughed. "You're taking this way too seriously. You're going to write letter to 70 million people asking if they put a note in your locker?"

"That's right."

"You're pathetic," Yusuke said. "Later. I don't have time to watch you bust your butt to find out who some dumb fangirl is…"

"'Bye…"

NEXT TIME - SURPRISE IN THE SHOWER AND THE HALF-DEAD MAILCARRIER!


	2. Surprise in the Shower and the Half

A/N: Oh, you guys… You make me blush. :blushes: - See? I am blushing! Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, guys. I really appreciate it. It's also kind of embarrassing when I look at it since this really isn't my best writing, but you guys seem to like it, so that's making me have a positive outlook on the future! You guys are great. ;) Please read and review!

**Surprise in the Shower and the Half-Dead Mailcarrier**

Kurama had written seventy million letters to all of his fans that night asking if they had put the note in his locker. He had mailed them just before the post office closed for the night. Tired, Kurama wearily walked back to his house and crashed on his bed.

It seemed like just minutes ago that Kurama fell asleep when his alarm clock woke him up at 6:00. Kurama's hand fumbled around for the off button and hit it. The buzzing noise stopped, and Kurama groaned, aching with tiredness. He rubbed his eyes and forced himself out of bed. Walking to the bathroom, he pushed aside the shower curtains to take a shower.

But there was someone already in the shower. The girl from yesterday sat on the soap shelf, holding a rubber ducky in her hand. Kurama screamed and hastily grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist. "What are you doing here!" he yelled. "I'm naked!"

The girl stepped out of the shower and set the duck on the countertop. "I just wanted to say good morning," she said affectionately, giving him a hug.

"What are you doing in my bathroom!" Kurama shouted. "This is sick—"

"Suichi?" Kurama's mother knocked on the door of the bathroom. "Is everything okay in there?"

Kurama looked at the door and back at the girl in her black cloak. "How did you get in here?" he hissed.

"I came in through the window…" the girl said.

"You can't just go around breaking into people's houses!" Kurama seethed. "Get out of here!"

"Suichi? What are you doing?" Shiori knocked louder on the bathroom door.

Angrily, Kurama grabbed the girl by the hood of her cloak and dragged her out of the bathroom. Thrusting open the door, Kurama stormed into the hallway, shouting, "There is something wrong with our security system! _This girl_ was in the bathroom!"

Shiori and Luna stared at the cloak in Kurama's hand. "What girl?" Shiori asked. "I don't see anybody."

Kurama looked at the cloak. It was empty; the girl was nowhere in sight.

"Put some clothes on, please!" Luna shouted, covering her eyes. "You come out half-naked just to show us a cloak! Grow up, Suichi!"

Frustrated, Kurama threw the cloak on the floor and stormed back into the bathroom, checking every corner of the room for the girl, but she was nowhere in sight.

"Suichi!" Shiori knocked on Kurama's bedroom door a few minutes before he left for school. "Come here, you have to see this…"

Kurama opened the door and stepped out, wondering what was going on now. He was still angry that the girl had tried to catch him naked in the shower, and he wasn't in the mood to see whatever it was. Shiori led him to the front door. She opened it and showed Kurama their mailcarrier, lying unconscious on their front doorstep with at least twelve sacks full of mail.

Luna pushed in between Shiori and Kurama and screamed. "The mailman's dead!" she cried.

Kurama knelt down and checked the mailcarrier's pulse. It was existent. He had just fallen unconscious on their doorstep. Trying to awaken the man, Kurama shook him whispering, "Are you all right?"

The mailcarrier finally came to and opened his eyes, moaning, "Where's Suichi Minamino?"

"I'm Suichi," Kurama replied. "What is it?"

"All these… all the letters… they're for you," the mailcarrier said.

Shiori raised an eyebrow. "Suichi… why are there so many letters for you…?"

Kurama's eyes widened. Picking up a sack, he ripped open the letter and sped-read it. It read, "Dear Kurama, YES! I put the note in your locker! Come to me and love me forever! Love, Jamie." Suspicious, Kurama picked up the next letter and tore it open as well. It said the exact same thing, except it was from a different person. He did this with five other letters, but all of them said the same thing. They all claimed to be the ones who put the note in Kurama's locker. Kurama sighed, throwing the letters down.

"What's all this about?" Shiori asked.

"Are they letters from your girl—" Luna started.

Kurama covered her mouth with his hand. "Quiet, Luna!" he hissed. "It's… nothing important, Mother." Gathering the sacks of mail, he carried them to the recycle bin, dumping them all in it.

"I'm sorry," he said to the mailcarrier. "Those must've been awfully heavy…"

"I hope you NEVER get that much mail ever again!" the mailcarrier said, unsteadily standing up. "You just about killed me there!"

"I'm sorry…" Kurama apologized again, but the mailcarrier had already left.

"Kurama, what's wrong?" Yusuke asked at lunch as he sat with Kurama.

Kurama laid his head on the table, closing his eyes. "Nothing," he mumbled. "I'm just tired from staying up all night writing letters to all of the fangirls, I'm angry because that girl from yesterday showed up in my shower, and now our mailcarrier hates me because I nearly broke his back with all of the responses I got."

"Woah, that sucks," said Kuwabara.

"So, did you get any leads on who you think the girl is?" Yusuke asked.

"No," said Kurama miserably. "They all said that they put the note in my locker. Sometimes I wish that everyone was more like Kuwabara and had an honor code…"

"That's right," said Kuwabara ostentatiously. "Because I am honorable and cool…"

Yusuke pounded him on the head. "Shut up, stupid. You just _wish_ you were cool, loser."

"This anonymous lover is really starting to bug me," Kurama said.

"But it's only been one day," Yusuke protested. "I'll bet she's really nice… and hot… whoever she is."

NEXT TIME - LINE UP AND THE CLOAK ANALYSIS!

**Reviewer Responses!**

**Mog Knight**: Thank you very much! I'm glad you think so, since being a writer is something I've always wanted to do, and I love doing it. Thanks for the addition to the favs list::so honored:

**The Cows Go MOO…**: Er… yeah… Too many "O's" in your name. I can't count that high. o.o Lol Thank you very much for your review! I'm honored that you like it! Yay::dances:

**GoldenKitsuneHime13**: You'll see the pairings in later chapters. There are a lot of them, since messing with romantic pairing is something I love to do. ;) Thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: Wow, thank you! n.n; Don't worry, updates on this are every other day. :) Thanks for the review!


	3. Line Up and the Cloak Analysis

A/N: This chapter is just kind of a fun chapter snuck in there for my own enjoyment. Mini yaoi moment, just a warning! Also, little bit of Hiei-OOC-ness, but I hope that can be excusable. Please read and review!

**Line Up and the Cloak Analysis**

* * *

The next morning, Kurama walked to school with a brilliant plan in his head. He had studied the cloak the night before and had found one thin strand of hair on it. Picking it up with tweezers, he had put it in a Ziploc baggie and brought it to school. He was going to have all of the girls from school line up and give him one of their hairs. After that, he would compare the DNA from the strand he found on the cloak to the DNA from the girls using the school's high-tech science lab. That was a sure way to find out, he thought…

* * *

"This is ridiculous," said Keiko as she stood in line with all of the other girls from Black Panda High. "I mean, the hair is probably cat hair or something…"

"I agree, this sure is a bit silly," said Botan. "It's probably not even a girl from this school who's stalking Kurama…"

"Well, I have hair from all 412 girls at this school," Kurama said triumphantly after lunch. "Now all I have to do is look at them all under a microscope and use the computer to see if any are DNA matches."

"Gee, you make that sound so easy," said Yusuke.

"Yeah, why did you have to be so smart?" Kuwabara asked jealously.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist like Kurama to be smarter than you," Yusuke replied.

"Shut up!"

"Hello, boys," said Botan, walking up to them and putting her hands on Yusuke and Kurama's shoulders. "Have you found your girl yet, Kurama?"

Kurama shook his head. "No. It will take a long time for me to go through everyone's hair. I will have to do it after school."

* * *

It was almost 7:00 and Kurama was still at the school, trying to find a match to the hair he found on the cloak. He had gone through 411 hair samples, but none were matches. He looked at the last strand of hair, which was a bleached platinum blonde color, and sighed. It wasn't going to be a match anyway; the hair he found on the cloak was a dark brown or black hair.

"Suichi, are you still here?" came a voice from behind him. Kurama turned around and saw that it was Hiei.

"I'm just leaving," he said resignedly. "No matches." He looked at Hiei and noticed there was something different about him. His cape was smaller than usual; the sleeves came up short and it barely reached his knees. "What's wrong with your cape? Are you getting taller?"

"No," said Hiei bitterly. "I can't find my normal one. This was the only one I have left, and it's too small."

Something clicked in Kurama's mind. He pulled his stalker's cloak from his backpack and held it up, comparing it to Hiei. He came to a conclusion; the cloak belonged to Hiei, and he was sure that the hair did too.

"That's mine!" Hiei shouted, pointing at the cloak. "Why do _you_ have it?"

Hiei reached for it, but Kurama pulled it away. "_You're_ the one who tried to catch me naked in the shower yesterday!"

Hiei paused. "What? No! I would _never_ do that!"

Kurama backed away from him. "Hmm…"

"I swear! That was _not_ me! It's your obsessive anonymous friend who likes you too much!" Hiei protested.

Kurama threw the cloak back at Hiei. "I can't believe you're…" he whispered in shock as he turned away.

"I'm not homosexual, if that's what you're thinking!" Hiei yelled.

"All this time… I thought…"

Kurama felt a pair of hands on his shoulders and looked back to see Hiei there, a soft and seductive smile on his face. His scarlet-brown eyes stared lovingly into his. Kurama stepped back in surprise. Hiei moved forward, his lips nearing Kurama's. They were so close, they could feel each other's breath on their faces. Hiei closed his eyes and planted his lips on Kurama's, sucking all the shock from him. Kurama closed his eyes as well, returning the kiss. The two of them broke away and Hiei whispered, "You're right… I love you…"

* * *

"Suichi?"

Kurama woke up with start, his forehead stuck to the eyepiece of the microscope he was using, leaving a dark ring. "Who's there?"

"What are you doing?" Hiei was standing over him, looking at all of the discarded hair samples strewn over the desk.

"Hiei!" Kurama exclaimed, edging away from him. "I know it's you, and I'm not like that, and—!"

"What are you talking about?" questioned Hiei.

Kurama looked in his bag, which was still on the floor. The cloak was still in it. It was all just a dream… He breathed a sigh of relief, letting his shoulders relax. "Whew… Just a dream…" he said.

"What happened?" said Hiei.

"Uh…" Kurama hesitated. "I had a dream…… that………we…………kissed…"

Hiei's eyebrows rose. "…That's absurd," he said shortly.

Kurama exhaled again. "I'm glad you think so," he said. "Now, this cape wouldn't happen to be yours, would it?" Kurama dug out the cloak from his bag and handed it to Hiei.

Hiei looked at it and replied, "Yes. It is. I've been looking for it."

Kurama sighed. "All this DNA testing has gotten me nowhere…"

"I think you're thinking too much about this," Hiei said. "Why can't you just enjoy it like a normal person?"

* * *

NEXT TIME - FIRST KISS AND THE UMBRELLA OF LOVE!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

**Deus X Machina**: Thanks! A little romantic comedy is always fun when it's in fanfic form (not a fan of romantic comedy movies though… those are just corny… Oh well! n.n). Thank you very much for reviewing!

**OH NO YOU READ MY NAME…etc…**: Long name. O.O I am almost threatened by it. :-P Just kiddin'. Anyway, thank you very much for the review! You're so kind. n.n "Favorite fanfic"? O.O :is honored: Thank you muchly!

**Kurama's-Nightmare**: Thanks for the review! Glad you liked it:)


	4. First Kiss and the Umbrella of Love

A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews. This chapter is cute, if I don't say so myself… ahh, I'm not going to say anything else. Please read and review!

* * *

**4. First Kiss and the Umbrella of Love**

* * *

_I'm late…_ Kurama murmured to himself as he ran down the hallway to the locker rooms. He was almost late for gym class; he had stayed after his previous class to argue with the teacher as to why he got an A- instead of an A. 

Kurama threw open the locker room door and started taking off his shoes. He stripped off his shirt and hastily slipped on his gym uniform, not even noticing that someone was watching him the whole time.

When he was finished, he shoved open the door, not wanting to be later than he already was. But then, he felt a hand on his shoulder as he was about to leave.

Kurama slowly turned around and found himself face-to-face with… the girl in black. His stalker. Startled, he stepped back, hitting the back of his head against the door. The girl took something from behind her back and pressed it into Kurama's hand. Kurama looked down to see what it was, but the girl's left index finger pushed his face back up.

"It will be our symbol of love," she said. "You'll need it today."

"Uh… thanks…" said Kurama, still having no clue what he was holding. "But… why were you hiding in the boys' locker room? Wait… were you watching me?"

The skin that Kurama could see on the girl's face turned bright red, which meant that she was. Kurama blushed as well. "You'd better go," the girl said. "I don't want to get you in trouble…" She walked down the opposite hall and disappeared from sight.

Kurama looked down at the object in his hand and saw that it was an umbrella. It was one of those little kid umbrellas with the rubber duck print on them. Kurama smiled and shook his head at the pink rubber ducks patterning the umbrella. He set it carefully on top of his red gym bag and dashed into the gymnasium, tripping slightly on his untied tennisshoes.

* * *

Finally, it was 2:45 and school was out for the day. After Kurama had finished putting his books away, he brought out the little umbrella. _It wasn't supposed to rain today… _he thought, slipping it inside his backpack. _I wonder why she gave it to me…_

Kurama was about to push open the double-doors when he noticed that it was pouring rain outside. Surprised, Kurama unzipped his bag and brought out the little ducky umbrella. Walking outside, he opened it, listening to the raindrops hitting the umbrella and bouncing off like steel-toed children on a trampoline. He looked up at the inside of his umbrella and noticed a piece of paper wedged in between the plastic rods and the cloth. He pulled it out and saw that it was another note.

_Dear Suichi,_

_Meet me at the soccer fields on 4th Avenue midway between your house and the school. Please come._

_Love,_

_Anonymous._

Kurama smiled, wondering what the girl would tell him this time. _Perhaps it could be a clue as to who she is… _Kurama hoped.

"Hey, Kurama!" Yusuke jogged over to Kurama, his normally gelled-up hair all messed up because of the rain. "Kurama, do you—what's with the umbrella?"

"It's a gift," Kurama replied.

"From… her?"

Kurama nodded. "Yes."

"Well, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house and play videogames with me an' Kuwabara. You can watch me kick his butt in Mario Kart…"

"No thanks, Yusuke," Kurama said. "I… have to go meet someone…"

Yusuke smiled. "Oh… I see. Your friend, right? Well, tell me if you two… y'know… _do_ anything…"

Kurama smiled back. "Right. I will make sure I do that. Good-bye, Yusuke!" Kurama ran off to the soccer fields, his feet splashing in the puddles that were starting to form on the sidewalk.

Kuwabara came over to Yusuke. "Hey! I brought the Scooby Doo game. Is Kurama coming?"

Yusuke shook his head. "No. He has to go say hi to his girlfriend."

Kuwabara saw him running off to the soccer fields. He noticed the ridiculous duck-patterned umbrella he was carrying. "What's with the umbrella? What is he, four years old?"

"It's a gift," said Yusuke. "From his girlfriend."

"Ohh… kinda like the flaming bag of dog poop I found on my doorstep this morning that said it was from Hiei?"

"…Yeah… Kinda like that…"

* * *

The girl jumped down from the tree she was hiding in when she saw Kurama coming. The rain had soaked the cape she wore, making it stick to her body and accentuating her teenage curves. Kurama stopped when he saw her. 

"Hi…" he said coyly, smiling softly.

The girl said nothing.

"Thanks for the umbrella," Kurama said. "I didn't think it was going to rain, but it did, and this really came in handy…" He raised his umbrella higher, grinning.

Still, the girl said nothing.

Kurama paused. "Aren't you cold standing out here in the rain? Come stand by me; you'll be warmer under the umbrella."

"I'm never cold when I see you," the girl said, taking Kurama's hand. "Come on. I want to show you something…"

Kurama followed the girl as she led him to a dilapidated shack near the first soccer field. It looked like it would collapse any minute, especially under the force of the pounding rain on its ramshackle roof. The girl pushed open the creaky door and motioned for him to come in after her. He did, dropping his school bags. He was surprised to see that the inside was very neat and tidy, save for a few holes in the roof that were sending droplets of water into the shack.

"What—" Kurama started, but he was interrupted as the girl pressed her lips up against his and gave him a long, passionate kiss.

Kurama was so surprised he barely acknowledged the immense passion in the girl's kiss. Her lips felt so calm and smooth against his… Kurama wrapped his arms around her, feeling not only just the damp cloak but also the heat radiating from her body. She wrapped her own arms around him and they stood, locked in that wonderful, passionate position.

Minutes passed, and they finally broke away from each other. Kurama's soft green eyes stared at the brownish-colored eyes of the girl, and she stared back, the great love she held making itself completely obvious to Kurama. This girl was serious about him. Not at all like the frivolous little crushes that most of the girls at school had…

"And I love you even more than that…" the girl whispered, brushing away a loose strand of hair on Kurama's face. "I'm really glad you came here… And I'm really glad you didn't push me away…"

"I couldn't do that to someone like you," Kurama said gently. "You've captured my interest, and I couldn't push you away just when I've started to like you back."

Behind the cloak, the girl was smiling from ear to ear. She was so excited, hearing that Kurama now liked her back. She grabbed his hand and said, "I'll walk you home. Let's go!"

* * *

"The rain's stopped," noted Kurama as they reached his house. The girl nodded, giving his hand a squeeze. 

"It's time I left now," she said. "'Bye, Kurama. It was…"

"Yeah." Kurama knew what she was trying to express. He could still feel the tingle left on his lips from her kiss…

Luna was looking out the window of their house, watching to see if Kurama and the girl would do anything. They were just standing there, talking. Finally, they stopped, and the girl started to walk away. Luna caught her eye and waved, making a kissing motion, asking her if she had kissed her brother. The girl nodded, and Luna clapped, grinning from ear to ear.

Kurama saw the two of them communicating through the window, and a thought popped into his head. _Does Luna know who that girl is?_ Kurama ran up the steps, wanting to ask Luna what she knew about his stalker…

* * *

NEXT TIME -INTERROGATION AND KUWABARA'S DATE!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

* * *

**Animefouryou**: Thanks for the review! 

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Dreams and stalkers – two of the best things in the world next to yaoi, cheese, really hot bishies, and chocolate. XDD Just kiddin'. Thanks for the review!

**Dances With Deers**: Do you change your pen name every day or something…? O.o; lol Anyway, thank you very much. I personally am a huge, sickly obsessed yaoi fan, and I couldn't resist tossing that little scene in there, but thanks for stickin' with me. Yeah, quite a few of these older chapters of mine (I wrote this over a year ago) are a little on the short side… Sorry about that! uu Thanks again for the review!

**evilchik**: I take it you don't like yaoi…? TT How sad. Yaoi is good. XDDD hee hee Anyway, thanks a bunch for the review. ;)


	5. Interrogation and Kuwabara's Date

A/N: Aw, this chapter makes me laugh… I'm still kind of a bit of a Kuwabara-basher at heart, if only just for kicks. I mean no harm, so Kuwa-fans, please don't flame me. Eek, sorry it's so short! o.o

* * *

**5. Interrogation and Kuwabara's Date**

* * *

"You know her, don't you?" Kurama asked Luna after he had set down his bags. "You know who that girl is." 

Luna didn't say anything for a moment. Then, she replied, "Yes. I do know who she is."

"Please tell me!" Kurama said, even though he knew she wouldn't.

"I'm not going to tell you," Luna said, turning away from her brother. "For three reasons." She held up three fingers. "Number one, I promised her that I wouldn't tell, number two, I don't feel like it, and number three, it would ruin all the fun if I told you. Wouldn't it, Suichi?"

Kurama sighed. It _would_ ruin the fun if she did tell him. He was kind of starting to like the whole mysterious act. It certainly wasn't boring…

"You're right," he said.

"But, I'll give you one clue," Luna said. "You've seen her before. You've talked to her, and you know who she is."

Kurama frowned. "That doesn't help much. I've seen, talked to, and known a quite a few girls."

"Why don't you make a list?" Luna said sarcastically.

Kurama grabbed a sheet of paper out of his backpack. "Good idea," he said. "Maybe I'll be able to narrow it down…"

"Wow. You really are stupid sometimes," said Luna. "You take things _way_ too seriously. Why don't you drop it and just enjoy the mystery?"

"It's a simple answer. I just want to know who it is…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Kuwabara and Yukina were at the Magic Dragon outdoor restaurant, enjoying a night all to themselves… 

"So, Yukina," said Kuwabara, trying to be sexy. "What do you really think of me?"

Yukina smiled politely. "I think you're a really nice person, Kazuma, and you're cute and all that—"

"That's right!" Kuwabara said loudly. A man at a nearby table stared strangely at him. Kuwabara whispered to him, "She thinks I'm cute!" The man nodded, raising his eyebrows. He turned to his girlfriend and whispered something in her ear.

Yukina smiled, her face flushing pink. "Yes… Well, Kazuma, what do you think of me?"

Kuwabara leaned closer to Yukina, putting his elbows on the table. "I think you are the most beautiful, nice, sweet, lovely, sexy…"

Hiei sat in a nearby tree, watching over his sister's date. He didn't like the idea of the orange-haired idiot going out with his sister, but he didn't want to say anything. He just thought he'd supervise, making sure that they wouldn't do anything that he deemed "inappropriate". He was trying to be as inconspicuous as possible; Kuwabara and Yukina didn't know he was there. But he thought it would be pretty hard to be inconspicuous if he accidentally puked when Kuwabara said those things about his sister…

Yukina blushed and giggled. "Oh, Kazuma…"

"Yukina…" Kuwabara said, his voice dropped to a husky whisper. "Yukina…"

"What…?"

"Will you… kiss me?"

Yukina stopped breathing. Her mind raced. _What should I say? I don't really love him… I can't kiss him… I like somebody else… I would feel like I'm betraying my love to the other person… What should I do?_ she thought "Uh… Kazuma…" she started.

"Yes, my love?"

"I… I can't."

"You can't what?"

"I can't kiss you," Yukina said, looking down. "I… I don't feel the same way about you as you feel about me."

"Wh… what?"

Hiei in the tree smiled. Looks like he wouldn't need a barf bag after all. Maybe just some duct tape to keep his mouth shut so he wouldn't laugh at Kuwabara's misery.

"I can't kiss you… because… my heart belongs to somebody else," Yukina finished. "I'm sorry…"

"Yukina…"

Yukina stood up, pushing in her chair. "I'm so sorry, Kazuma." She squeezed his shaking hand, tears shining in her glassy eyes. "I hope you can forgive me…"

"Yu...Yukina…" Kuwabara stared after her as she walked away from the table. Many people were starting to stare at him again.

Kuwabara sighed and left the restaurant, leaving a large tip for the waitress. He stood up and left, thinking, _Yukina doesn't like me? If… if she doesn't like me, then… who _DOES_ she like…?_

* * *

NEXT TIME - YUKINA'S SECRET LOVE AND KUWABARA'S DEVASTATION!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

**Dances With Deers**: Thank you! I suppose it is an honor to be called "O.C.-episode-worthy". I wouldn't know; I don't watch the show (anime is a bad enough vice for me, last thing I need is a primetime teen drama… o.o). Anyway, I'm very glad you like it. And… wow… you mentioned my obnoxious fancharacter in your review. It really makes her feel special. :) Thanks very much for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	6. Yukina's Secret Love

A/N: Short chapter… ummmmm… I hope I don't lose any readers because of this… Half of the people who read this chapter on AnimeSpiral said "EWWW!", the other half said "YAAAAAYY!" :sweatdrop: Please review!

* * *

**6. Yukina's Secret Love and Kuwabara's Devastation**

* * *

Once the restaurant was out of sight, Yukina ran back to her apartment home. She felt just awful for ditching Kuwabara like that, but it had to be done. She didn't love Kuwabara. At least not like he loved her….

Opening the door to her room, she went and sat on her bed. She wondered how Kuwabara was doing and hoped that she didn't hurt his feelings too badly….

Yukina sighed, trying not to dwell on him. She was over him; she had to focus on her real and true love. Yukina leapt off the bed, heading for her secret love shrine which she kept hidden in her closet….

Yukina opened her closet, and a collage of photos, drawings, and letters she never sent greeted her. Yukina breathed in the scent of her cinnamon candle which she kept inside the closet to make it smell nice and sighed happily. She really loved this person… Much more than she loved Kuwabara…

Picking up a photo she took herself, Yukina sat down and stared up at the collage. His face stared back at her, warming her heart and putting butterflies in her stomach. She looked at the picture and traced the man's outline with her finger. She wished she could be tracing the outline of the man's real body right now, but she couldn't unless she told him… But she couldn't… She was too shy…

Yukina sighed, putting the picture back with the others. She reached over and turned on her CD player, letting it play soft, classical music – her favorite kind. She imagined herself in a long, white gown, with his hands on her hips, her arms around his neck, so close to each other on a moonlit patio with nobody else around….

In Yukina's daydream, the man wrapped his arms tighter around her waist, bringing her into a romantic embrace. Yukina rest her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. She loved him so very very much…. The man brought Yukina's head up and stared at her with his beautiful eyes. Yukina just about melted into a puddle on the floor, but the man saved her by pressing his lips against hers and locking into a passionate kiss that Yukina hoped would last for all eternity….

Yukina opened her eyes, snapping herself out of the wonderful daydream. _Someday…_ she thought, _Someday I'll tell him I love him…. Someday I will tell him…_

_I love you…_

…_Hiei…_

* * *

Kuwabara set off in the opposite direction, heading for his own house. He felt miserable. He always thought that Yukina loved him! Maybe not obsessive-love like he had, but_ some_ kind of love…. He never took Yusuke seriously when he said it would never work with Yukina; he thought he was just joking. Now he wondered, _Is there something going on with Yusuke and Yukina? Something they haven't told me? Or… was it all really just a joke…?_

* * *

"Welcome home, bro," said Shizuru as Kuwabara entered the house. "Did you have a nice date?"

Kuwabara didn't answer. Shizuru turned away from the TV and noticed he was frowning. "Hey, it wasn't _that_ bad, was it?" she asked, almost a hint of concern in her voice.

Kuwabara glared at her. "Don't even ask, sis," he said angrily, storming up to his room. "Just… leave me alone…."

Shizuru shrugged indifferently, turning back to the TV. As she lit up another cigarette, she thought about her own crush, and what would happen if they ever went out on a date. However, she knew she could never admit who she liked to anybody; she knew they would just laugh at her. She could also never say that she liked that person to his face because he would never love her back….

Meanwhile, Kuwabara moped in his room, letting the tears run down his face. He thought he would never be happy again… with Yukina gone….

* * *

NEXT TIME - SCHOOL'S OUT DANCE AND THE SOCK-PUPPET ANTI-DEPRESSANT!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

* * *

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: You have the same name as my fanfic! Sorta… n.n That's never happened before… hee hee Anyway… um… does this chapter answer your question:more sweatdropping – damn, I must smell bad…: Thanks very much for the review!

**evilchik**: Aw, too bad ya don't like yaoi. I think this is one of my only fics that doesn't really involve yaoi, and even then, I stick that nasty little chapter 3 in there… / Anyway, is it Yukina? We don't know. Could be Genkai for all we know… o.o Thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	7. School's Out Dance

A/N: Completely random chapter! Some OOC, some wtf-ness, you know, usual weird stuff. I personally hate this chapter; it's so dumb. Oh well. Please read and review!

* * *

**7. School's Out Dance and the Sock-Puppet Anti-Depressant**

* * *

"And in other news," said Keiko, the student council president, over the loudspeaker the next morning, "we will be having an all-school dance in two weeks, celebrating the upcoming end of the school year. It is a formal dance, and all are welcome to attend. Tickets will cost five dollars…"

The students in Kurama's homeroom class all starting talking, drowning Keiko's voice out. Once there was news of a dance, there was always a big race to ask Kurama to it. Kurama sighed, looking away as a group of girls stared at him, their eyes all showing the same desire to be with him. But Kurama already knew who he was going to ask to the dance…. He was going to ask the mysterious stalker girl whom he had grown to take a liking too….

* * *

"Suichi! Oh, Suichi!" As Kurama walked out of the classroom for his first class, what seemed like every girl in the universe ran out to confront him. Kurama felt like he needed some mace and a heavy crowbar right about now…

"Suichi! Come to the dance with me!" one girl in red pigtails begged, tugging on his shirtsleeve.

"No! Come with ME!" cried a girl on his other, putting her arms around his shoulders.

"No me! Me!" The shouts of a hundred girls filled the hallways of the school, all of them begging to be the one Kurama took to the dance.

Kurama tried to push them all away, but more just kept coming, all of them asking the same question. Even one of the boys from the next class asked him! Kurama backed away from all the girls, thus trapping himself in a corner. Yusuke stood at the opposite end of the hallway, howling with laughter as Kurama tried to stop the stampede of girls trying to get at him.

"Wait, wait, everybody… STOP!" Kurama shouted, making the whole hall fall silent. "Everybody, I just want to say something."

Every girl crossed her fingers and held her breath, hoping that he would say one of their names as the girl he would take to the dance….

"I'm not taking any of you to the dance," Kurama said. The girls (and boy) all gasped with horror. A few even started crying. "Wait, it's not that I don't… It's not that I don't like any of you," he continued, not wanting to sound mean, "but I'm already taking someone else."

The girls all broke out into an angry mob. "Who? Who are you taking?" they all demanded. "Why won't you take me?"

Kurama just shook his head. "I'm not going to tell," he said simply. "Now if you'll please excuse me, I have to get to class…."

* * *

_I wish there was some way I could tell the girl I want to meet her…_ Kurama thought as he waited for everyone to leave the school that afternoon. He didn't want anybody to see him talking to the strange girl….

He went outside, waiting in the parking lot where he had first met her, hoping that she would, by some off chance, happen to be around. He hoped she would come, and quickly; he had made arrangements with Yusuke, Botan, and Keiko to go over to Kuwabara's house and cheer him up. He hadn't been at school; Yusuke said he was too depressed over his breakup with Yukina.

A quarter of an hour passed, and the girl did not show up. Kurama was disappointed. He was so sure that she would come. After all, a dance had been mentioned. Didn't she want to be the first to ask Kurama…?

Sighing, he began walking to Kuwabara's house. Halfway there, his sister, Luna came running up behind him.

Out of breath, Luna grabbed onto his arm and panted, "I've… got… something… for you…" Luna put a crumpled up piece of paper into Kurama's hand and gasped for more breath. "And now, I will die…" Luna pretended to keel over, letting her brother catch her and throw her into a nearby fence.

"Thanks for the note," Kurama said, smiling as he recognized the same stationery that his stalker had used on Monday. "I've gotta go…"

Luna brushed the hair out of her eyes and grumbled, "You didn't have to throw me at the fence…."

* * *

Once Luna was out of sight, Kurama opened the note. In the same impeccably neat handwriting, the note said:

_Dear Suichi,_

_I'm sorry I couldn't meet you after school today. I had a dentist appointment. Please meet me later this evening in your backyard at 10:00pm._

_Love,_

_Anonymous._

_Dentist appointment?_ thought Kurama excitedly. _Who do I know that had a dentist appointment this afternoon…?_

Kurama thought the whole way to Kuwabara's house, but nobody he knew had a dentist appointment today. Sighing, Kurama pushed open the door to Kuwabara's house.

* * *

"Kuwabara-kun?" Kurama entered Kuwabara's room where everyone else from school was surrounding Kuwabara's bed where he was lying.

"Hey, Kurama," said Yusuke. "You're nice, maybe you can cheer this guy up…?"

Kurama thought for a minute. "Do you have any socks?"

Botan, Keiko, and Yusuke stared at him oddly. "Socks?" questioned Yusuke.

"That's right." Kurama nodded. Kuwabara heaved himself off of his bed and threw three pairs of old, dirty socks at Kurama. Kurama took a permanent marker and drew three faces on the socks: one resembling Hiei, another resembling Yusuke, and the other resembling Kuwabara. Putting the Kuwabara sock on his left hand and the Hiei sock on another, Kurama began playing with the new sock puppets.

"Day One," he said. "Fire Demon versus Kuwabara."

"Good morning, Hiei," said the Kuwabara puppet.

"You're stupid," said the Hiei puppet.

"Oh yeah? Well take this!" Kurama took an orange highlighter and drew a long line on the sock; it was supposed to be a Spirit Sword. Kurama made the Kuwabara puppet jump on the Hiei puppet and pretend to slash him to pieces with the "Spirit Sword". The Hiei puppet screamed and then fell limp. Kurama pulled off the Hiei puppet, tossed it aside, and said, "Hiei defeated by Kuwabara!"

Kuwabara smiled. Keiko and Botan giggled. Yusuke just stared, thinking, _That would never happen…_ Kurama was thinking the same thing. _Good thing Hiei's not watching…_

Kurama put the Yusuke sock puppet on his hand and said, "Day Two: The Ultimate Showdown, the REAL Punk at Black Panda High."

Yusuke and Kuwabara both smiled egotistically. Kurama smiled, noting their amusement. The Yusuke sock puppet hopped over to the Kuwabara puppet and said, "Yo, Kuwabara! Wanna fight?"

"Yeah!" said the Kuwabara puppet. "Bring it on, punk!"

Kurama drew a big blue circle on the Yusuke puppet, representing the Shotgun attack. Yusuke whispered to Keiko, "See? I got my attacks just they way you like them. All pretty and stuff like that… Kuwabara's weapon is butt ugly."

"Oh, Yusuke…"

The Yusuke puppet advanced at the Kuwabara one, shouting, "SHOTGUN!" The Kuwabara puppet did a backflip and showed off some more gymnastics that the real Kuwabara could never do in a million years. The Yusuke puppet advanced again, but the Kuwabara puppet was ready. The Kuwabara puppet stuck his Spirit Sword in the Yusuke puppet, and the Yusuke puppet fell over. Kuwabara's puppet hopped up and down shouting, "Oh yeah! Oh yeah! I'm king of the world!"

The real Kuwabara sat up, grinning from ear to ear. "We all know that's true," he said proudly. "I am Kuwabara the Man, Number ONE punk at Black Panda High."

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, buddy…"

"Well, it looks like _somebody's_ okay now…" said Botan, giggling.

"Sock puppets…" mused Keiko. "The perfect anti-depressant. Who knew…?"

"That was complete and utter absurdity," said a voice from the windowsill.

Everyone glanced over and saw Hiei sitting on the windowsill, a displeased look on his face. "Kurama, that was the dumbest thing I have ever seen you do," he said. "I can't believe you lowered yourself to such a level as to playing with… what do you humans call them? _Sock_ puppets…?"

"Well, it worked," said Kurama indignantly. "It got Kuwabara out of his depression."

"I think we would have all been better off if Kuwabara stayed home all day, became more depressed and eventually killed himself," Hiei growled.

"Oh, stop it, Hiei," said Botan.

"Um, just to clear things up," Kurama interrupted, spotting the death glare Hiei was giving him. "This was a _fictional_ story…"

* * *

NEXT TIME - INVITATION AND KUWABARA'S NEXT VICTIM!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

* * *

**Deus X Machina**: Thanks. This fic is already all the way written out, and it does kind of stray from the main subject every now and then (like now), but I'll keep that in mind for future fics. Also, this is actually a combo of two fic ideas that I had: a Kurama x Stalker and Everyone Else x Everyone Else, if you know what I mean. ;) Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Yeah, this chapter was a bit random. :sarcasm: Just a tiny bit random. /sarcasm: I have a few chapters are are quite random… Oo; Thanks for the review!

**eilchik**: Yep, Yukina is clueless as to Hiei's true identity. I wonder how it all works out… :ponders: Kurama x Genkai is going to bug me all day unless I do something with it… -.- Thanks a lot. Just kiddn'. Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: Yep, the day she finds out – IF she finds out – will be rather interesting, no? Could be Shizuru. Could be anybody. Who knows! n.n You'll just have to keep reading to find out. Thanks very much for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	8. Invitation and Kuwabara's Next Victim

A/N: I don't remember what this chapter is about; it's been awhile since I last read it, so please excuse anything that might be wrong with it because I haven't proofread. Please review!

* * *

**8. Invitation and Kuwabara's Next Victim**

* * *

Finally, it was ten o'clock, the designated time to meet Kurama's cloaked stalker outside his home.

Kurama carefully slid open his window on the second floor on his house and stepped outside, greeting the clear night. The light wind blew, chilling Kurama, who was only wearing a T-shirt and thin flannel pants. He jumped down, landing catlike on the ground below. He looked around his yard, searching for the girl.

"Hi."

Kurama turned around, and there was the girl, her black cloak billowing in the night air. Kurama smiled. "Hello," he replied back.

"I missed you this afternoon," the girl said, putting her arms around Kurama's middle and giving him a hug. "Sorry about that…"

"That's okay," Kurama said, returning the hug and feeling much warmer inside. "I … wanted to ask you something…."

The girl let go and stared at him. "What's that?" she asked.

"There's a dance at my school in a couple weeks…" Kurama started, "and… I was wondering… would you like to accompany me there as my date?"

Even though Kurama couldn't see it beneath her cloak, the girl was smiling. She grinned from ear to ear, happy that Kurama had asked her. She knew about the dance, and she was happy that he didn't already have a date. She knew he was popular at school and how hard it was to get a date with him….

"Yes!" the girl cried, giving Kurama another hug. "I'm so happy!"

Kurama smiled, his face turning pink. He was happy too, that she would go with him. "It's a formal dance," Kurama then said to the girl. "Are you still going to come in that cloak?"

The girl thought for a minute. After a moment of deliberation, she replied, "No. I will not come in this cloak."

Kurama's heart skipped a beat. He was going to finally find out who the girl was! But then, his heart sank as he realized that the dance was in a little over two weeks. He didn't know if he could wait that long!

"I will meet you at the school," the girl said. "I'll be wearing red dress and carrying a red rose with a gold ribbon tied around it. Look for me." The girl gave Kurama a kiss on the cheek, then walked away.

"Farewell …" Kurama said, looking after her. He watched her until she went around the corner, disappearing from sight. _Red dress, red rose, gold ribbon… I need to remember that… _Kurama said to himself. _Red dress, red rose, gold ribbon…_

* * *

Meanwhile, at Kuwabara's house, Kuwabara was already choosing his next victim of love….

"Well, Plan A, Yukina, didn't work," Kuwabara said to himself, removing the countless Yukina pictures in his mini love shrine in his closet. "I gotta move on…"

Once Kuwabara had gotten rid of all the Yukina pictures, he looked at his drawer marked "STUFF: SHIZURU, STAY OUT!". The drawer had a padlock on the handle, just to make sure nobody but him would get in there. Kuwabara began fiddling with the lock, trying to get the right combination. Little did her realize, though, that he could've just pulled open the drawer; the lock did absolutely nothing as it was just on the handle.

Finally, after two or three tries, Kuwabara got the correct combination. Taking the lock off of the drawer's handle, he threw it aside and opened up the drawer, revealing hundreds of pictures of different girls and a camera with a few rolls of film.

"It's time for Plan B…" Kuwabara mused as he took out the top stack of pictures. He taped them into his closet, and when he was done, admired his crude handiwork.

"Plan B: Botan."

NEXT TIME - THE DRAMA CLUB PERFORMANCE AND KOENMA'S BACKSTAGE CONFESSION!

* * *

**Reviewer Responses!**

* * *

**evilchik**: I can't really say anything to your review, because if I did, there would be many spoilers included! o.o :covers mouth with duct tape: Only thing I can say is: Keep reading, and you shall find all the answers, my friend… uu

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: I have no idea why I thought of puppets. I was young (barely 13 when I wrote this) and stupid with a deranged brain. Of course, my brain has become slightly more deranged (it goes like this: food hentai bishie yaoi yum more food yay! And that's my usual train of thought… uu), but… meh. Anyway, thanks for the review! This was really your favorite/ I personally hate the living daylights out of it, but to each his own. Huzzah-ness:) See ya!

**heartluv**: Yep. Only through reading can you find the answers. ;) Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: I try not to let my reviewers down! Thanks for the review:)

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	9. The Drama Club Performance

A/N: Here's another chapter. Random bits of Kuwabara-bashing and unnecessary dialogue… Man, I can't believe I EVER thought this fanfic was good… Oh well. At least it captures your interest, so that's fine with me!

* * *

Disclaimer: Hamlet doesn't belong to me. Is this considered plagiarism what I'm doing here…? Hope not… Besides, Shakespheare's dead anyway… ;;; Don't sue!

* * *

**9. The Drama Club Performance and Koenma's Backstage Confession

* * *

**

Saturday night's drama club performance of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" was going very well. Several people showed up for the performance, including all of Kurama's friends. Even Koenma the teenager made a point to come and see it!

The play was nearing its end. Keiko, as Queen Gertrude, shouted out to the crowd, "No, no, the drink, the drink—O my dear Hamlet—The drink, the drink! I am poisoned!" Keiko dramatically fell down and died. Yusuke, in the audience, laughed.

Kurama, as Hamlet, then said, "Oh, villainy! Ho! Let the door be locked. Treachery! Seek it out!"

The boy who tried to ask Kurama to dance a couple days ago (acting as Laertes) then replied, "It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain; no medicine in the world can do thee good; In thee there is not half an hour of life; the treacherous instrument is in thy hand, Unabated and envenomed: the foul practice hath turned itself on me lo, here I lie, never to rise again: thy mother's poisoned; I can no more; the king, the king's to blame."

* * *

"What's he saying? I don't get it…" said Kuwabara.

Hiei pretended he knew what was going on and said, "This play is incredibly easy to follow. Even a two-year-old could understand it. You're just a fool."

Shizuru sighed and said, "I just came here to watch people die…"

* * *

"The point—envenomed too! Then, venom, to thy work!" Kurama yelled, taking a knife prop and stabbing King Claudius, who was played by Kuwabara's friend, Okubo.

Everybody on stage then cried, "Treason! Treason!"

* * *

"What does treason mean?" asked Kuwabara.

"It means to go stuff your face in a toilet," Hiei replied.

"…Really?"

* * *

"O, I die, Horatio; the potent poison quite o'er-crows my spirit: I cannot live to hear the news from England, but I do prophesy the election lights. On Fortinbras: he has my dying voice, so tell him, with the occurrents, more and less, which have solicited. The rest is silence." Kurama completed his monologue with a dramatic end to his life. The audience clapped.

* * *

"Isn't that a bit sadistic to clap when somebody dies?" asked Yukina.

"No," answered Hiei. "After we slay demons, we always clap."

"Really?"

"Why can't you people hint my sarcasm!" Hiei cried, shaking his fist at the sky

"Oh, you're so funny, Hiei!" Yukina squealed, grabbing Hiei's hand. "I love you—your... jokes!"

Hiei just stared at her, raising his eyebrows. "Hn…"

* * *

At last, the production was over. Everyone in the room stood up and clapped wildly. The whole left side of the auditorium was filled with screaming, wild, obsessed Kurama fangirls. One of the girls in the front row took off her shirt and ran backstage, looking for Kurama.

"Let's go backstage," Botan said, pulling Yusuke's arm. "We can say hi to Keiko and Kurama!"

"I brought flowers," said Yukina.

* * *

"Oh, good job, Kurama!" cried Botan, running up to Kurama who was trying to wash the fake blood off of his face. "You were wonderful!"

"Thank you," Kurama replied modestly.

"And you too, Keiko," Botan added, nodding at Keiko, who smiled.

"I brought you flowers," said Yukina, handing Kurama the bouquet of roses. Kurama smiled, taking her gift. _Is this a sign? _he wondered. _Does Yukina like me? Is _she_ that girl in the black cloak? Or am I just jumping to conclusions…?_

"A-hem! Excuse me!" Koenma cleared his throat so the rest of the group could hear. A circle formed around him, as they figured he had something very important to say. "Thank you," he said when everyone had quieted down. "I have a very important announcement to make."

The group held its breath. _Please, not another mission…_ Yusuke pleaded.

"I have a confession to make," he said. The room became even quieter. What on earth could Koenma be confessing about? "I love somebody."

"That's it?" said Yusuke dryly.

Koenma ignored him. "And that person is…"

The group waited with bated breath. The girls looked from one to the other, wondering which one it could be. The boys crossed their fingers and hoped that it wasn't any one of them.

Koenma walked forward and took one of the girls' hands. He stared at the woman adoringly, a lovesick expression on his face. The girl was shocked; she couldn't say anything. She just stood and waited for Koenma to say something instead.

"Shizuru… I love you."

A moment later, after the initial shock wore off, the group started laughing. "How could anyone love my _sister_!" Kuwabara roared. Shizuru glared at him out of the corner of her eye and mouthed the words "You're gonna die" to him. Kuwabara immediately stopped laughing and hid behind Botan.

Shizuru turned to look back at Koenma, who was still holding her hand. "Oh, Koenma," she said slowly. "I… I'm sorry…"

"Wh-what?"

"I'm sorry," Shizuru repeated. "But I can't love you."

Koenma let go of her hand. "Y-you can't? But… but why not?"

Shizuru's eyes softened. "Because I already love someone else…"

Koenma sank to the ground. "No… but… you… you can't! You can't reject me!" he shouted. "I'm Koenma, Prince of the Spirit World! You can't reject me!"

"I think I just did," Shizuru said.

Yusuke laughed harder. "Shot down, Koenma! Ha ha!"

"Yusuke! Don't laugh at Koenma like that," said Botan sternly, but Yusuke could tell she was giggling too.

"I have to go…" Shizuru said, walking away.

"That plan was foolproof!" Koenma said, mouth gaping in shock. "Usually, if you say you love someone in front of a whole group of people, they can't say no!"

"You have to realize that Shizuru's not like other girls," Kuwabara said wisely. "She does what she wants, and if that includes dissing you in front of a bunch of people, she'll do it. Trust me, she's done it to me plenty of times…"

Koenma sighed. "I just can't believe it… All this time I spent watching her on my personal television… All this time I spent worshipping the ground she walked on…. And then… she just… rejects me."

Koenma's blue ogre entered the backstage area, carrying a giant box of donuts. "Hi, Koenma sir," he said. "I brought donuts for you and Shizuru to share—what happened?"

"I've been… shot down."

* * *

NEXT TIME - DRAGON ASSAULT AND THE MYSTERIOUS NEW GIRL!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Sami Kurama's Satlker**: Your encouragement is… encouraging… :sweatdrop/blush: I do have self-confidence… I just tend to be modest except for the times when I'm being a pig-headed jerk. XP And ya know? You'll see about Botan! Thanks for the added narration! "Next time…" hah… I loved that. ;) Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: I'm afraid I can't answer your questions. You're just going to have to continue reading (and reviewing, of course) to find out EVERYTHING that happens. :grins: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoy the story.

**evilchik**: Of course you'll find out who the stalker is. That's the whole point of this fanfic, isn't it? ;) Ooh, if Botan IS the stalker, yes, that would mean some bad news for Kuwabara, wouldn't it? Hmmm… :grins: Anyway, thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: Well, we'll just have to see if Kuwabara and Botan work out together here, won't we:) Thanks very much for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Well, I'm glad I've captured your interest here. Not to brag or anything, but I do kind of pride myself on suspense. What can I say? I love (writing) cliffies:) Thanks very much for the review!

**Dances With Deers**: Wow, thank you for all the reviews:) You boosted my review count:is sooper-happy: I'm glad you like my work, even though this personally isn't my best. When I post my newer, better work, I hope you'll like it too (hint hint XD). Thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17— 


	10. Dragon Assault

A/N: See if you can figure out who the "mysterious new girl" is. I bet you can. ;) Please review!

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**10. Dragon Assault and the Mysterious New Girl

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**

Yusuke was walking Keiko home to her house after her performance of Hamlet, holding hands and enjoying the time alone they finally got to have. It seemed like they were never together anymore.

"You were really good tonight," Yusuke said, trying to break their silence.

"Thanks."

"And you looked really hot in that queen costume," he added with a sly grin.

Keiko shook her head in exasperation. "Oh, Yusuke…" she said.

As Keiko and Yusuke quietly chuckled, a large, dark shadow appeared from behind a fence that lined the sidewalk. It looked like a small dragon; it bared its fangs and roared. Keiko screamed in terror and jumped back into Yusuke. The dragon's claws reached out for Keiko, grabbing her by her shirt. Keiko screamed again as the dragon lifted her up and brought her close to its hungry mouth.

"Mmm… tasty snack…" the dragon hissed, licking Keiko's cheek with its coarse tongue. Keiko kicked and squirmed, but the dragon wouldn't let go of her. She was getting closer and closer to its mouth….

"Yusuke!" Keiko shrieked. "DO something!"

Yusuke aimed his right index finger at the dragon, a sphere of blue energy glowing around it. "Spirit G—"

"No! Stop!" came a voice from behind the fence. Yusuke dropped his Spirit Gun stance, and the dragon brought Keiko away from his mouth. Yusuke, Keiko, and the dragon turned around to see who the voice was coming from.

A small girl with medium-length, straightened pink hair struggled over the fence. "Ouch!" she cried as her left leg caught in on the fence. She was wearing a pair of tight white pants and a small pink T-shirt. Once she got her other foot out of the fence, she straightened up and repeated, "Stop! Leave the dragon alone!"

Yusuke stared at the beautiful girl in front of him. The dragon dropped Keiko, who fell on the pavement with a painful thud, and looked at the girl as well.

"Shibuki, you damn dragon!" the girl scolded, walking over to the dragon and shaking her index finger at it. "You know you're not supposed to go out at night alone! And what did I tell you about eating people?"

"Sorry, Master," the dragon said, its eyes downcast. "I'll be a good dragon."

"Good boy," the girl said, patting its head rather harshly and slipping a bright pink leash around its neck. Then, turning to Yusuke and Keiko she said, "I'm sorry Shibuki bothered you. But he's just a baby, and he doesn't know any better, _right_, Shibuki?" The girl stared coldly at the dragon.

The dragon snorted and didn't reply.

"Shibuki's my pet," the girl explained. "The next Godzilla in training."

"Uh…"

"Come on, Yusuke," Keiko said huffily, dusting herself off as she tried to hide the fear in her voice. She had never seen a dragon before. "Let's go home where it's _safe_!"

"Sorry!" the girl cried after them.

* * *

"Why didn't you let us stay?" Yusuke whined. "I wanted to know her name!"

"Oh, you just wanted to stay because you thought she was pretty," said Keiko moodily. "I saw the way you were looking at her, you jerk!"

"Keiko!"

"Shut up, Yusuke!" Keiko brought her hand and slapped it across Yusuke's face. Yusuke winced at the sharp pain on his cheek and thought with a sigh, _The things I get for just _glancing_ at a pretty girl… Sheesh… _Then, as if to make up for his "sins" of pissing Keiko off, he said, "Nice skirt, Keiko…"

"YUSUKE! THAT DIDN'T WORK A LONG TIME AGO AND IT ISN'T GOING TO WORK NOW!"

* * *

NEXT TIME: FATAL ACCIDENT AND THE NEW GIRL'S FIRST LOVE!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**evilchik**: Aw, I wish I had thought of having Koenma's love interest be Kurama… Oh well. I have a friend who's does Koenma x Kurama before… XD Besides, this is a non-yaoi story. TT Oh well. Anyway, speculate all you want as to what my grins mean! I'm not telling. :more grinning: Um… well, thank you for the caps-lock confidence-boost. :sweatdrop: And thank you for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Yes… poor Koenma. But power to Shizuru for rejecting royalty! XD Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: Thank you! I'm glad you found Koenma's rejection amusing. I forgot I had that in there:D Thanks very much for the review!

**Dances With Deers**: Thank you! I've tried to read Shakespheare… it's way too hard for me. Though it was fun when I got to play Juliet in a mini Romeo and Juliet skit for literature class… My Romeo was one of the guys I liked. XD Happy day that was… But I'm getting off-track here! I'm very glad you liked the chapter, and I'm glad you like my dialogue. I think that's the first time somebody's commented on my dialogue… so thank you for that! And thanks for the review!

**Vixen**: Guess all you want. You'll find out who she is soon enough. Thanks for the review!

**hey**: Of course I will finish it. Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: No problem! As long as you're reviewing now, that's what matters, eh:smirk: That's awesome that I'm able to sort of confuse you with who the stalker is. To me, of course, since I wrote it, the stalker is completely obvious, but I'm glad I've got my readers stumped! You'll just have to keep reading and see who she is! Thanks very much for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	11. Fatal Accident

A/N: Hey, finally a longer chapter… and an unnecessary plot twist:twirls around: Dig it! XD And review!

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**11. Fatal Accident and the New Girl's First Love

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**

It was Sunday afternoon, and Kurama was headed to the movies with Yusuke, Kuwabara and Hiei for the premiere of Autsin Powers 4. He finally had his own car to drive – a flashy red Mustang convertible, which he took the long way across town to the movie theater. Kurama's long red hair flew with the wind as he sped down the busy city streets. A car that was driving alongside of him honked, and a group of girls stuck their heads out the window, screaming and waving madly at him. Kurama rolled his eyes and grinned. Then he wondered if it was the car or him that had made them honk….

As Kurama was enjoying his joy ride around town, he didn't notice the speeding car about a half mile behind him. The man behind the wheel was obviously drunk; his vehicle was swerving crazily, and his foot seemed stuck to the gas pedal. Several cars honked at it, but Kurama just thought they were honking at him, and he smiled pompously, thinking nothing of it.

Until the car was right behind him.

The car behind Kurama sped up and was right on his tail. Kurama looked behind him and saw the intoxicated man at the wheel, his drunken face staring blankly into space. Kurama swerved out of his way, the tires on the convertible screeching loudly.

Kurama gasped as the other car followed him, swerving the same way. Kurama pressed his foot on the gas pedal, hoping to lose him, but the other car pressed on as well. Kurama didn't want to go too much over the speed limit, so he began to slow down.

The car behind him was out of control. The driver had lost all power of the wheel, the car zooming at Kurama at an accelerated speed. Kurama tried to swerve out of the way once more, but there was another car in the other lane; he didn't want to hit it.

Knowing the inevitable was coming, Kurama closed his eyes, waiting for the crash. Sure enough, the car came speeding towards him, and it hit the little red convertible with full force.

Kurama's car went flying off the road and into the nearby ditch. It rotated 360 degrees and stopped when it hit a large tree. The hood got smashed, and the back end was wrecked beyond recognition. Something snapped in Kurama's arm, and he was knocked unconscious by the crash's impact. He lay with his head against the steering wheel, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

The car erupted in flames. Nobody on the road paid any attention; they were too caught up in their own driving: talking on cell phones, listening to the radio cranked up to top volumes, eating McDonalds and drinking coffee. If Kurama didn't regain consciousness or get help soon, he was sure to be engulfed by the flames.

Luckily for Kurama however, his little stalker friend was doing what she did best: stalking him. She was riding on a motorcycle and saw the whole crash. She veered off the road and into the ditch. Stopping her motorcycle and jumping off it, she ran over to Kurama, whose car was ablaze with flame. Coughing from the smoke, she jumped into the flaming car and saw her beloved Kurama, unconscious and about to suffer a fiery death if he didn't get out soon.

The girl grit her teeth and put her arms under Kurama's body. She heaved him out of the seat with all the strength she had and tried to carry him out of the car. Her foot caught on the door handle, however, and she tripped, letting Kurama fall out of her arms. The girl screamed, hoping she didn't hurt him. "Help!" she cried. "Somebody help me!"

The girl cried out in pain as the flames licked at her ankle in the door handle. Quickly and painfully, she wrenched it out and tumbled over Kurama. The metal frame of the car was starting to melt, and flames were now burning the fancy leather seats. The girl sighed, thankful she had at least gotten Kurama out of the car.

Now all she had to do was get him to the hospital…. She thought for a moment. He wouldn't fit on her puny motorcycle; he would probably fall off anyway because he was unconscious. She didn't have a car, so she couldn't drive him. There was no way she was going to be able to hitch a ride with a stranger, and she was too weak to carry him to the hospital. She bit her nails, trying not to panic, when a voice behind her said:

"Need a hand?"

The girl looked behind her and saw another girl about her age, maybe a little older, with straight pink hair and large brown eyes. She wore a pink shirt that showed her stomach and low-riding white pants. She was very pretty as she stood behind her, one hand on her hip, the other holding a bright pink leash that led to a small, dark green, scaly dragon with beady black eyes.

Kurama's stalker gawked at the other girl in front of her. "Uh…" she stuttered. "Um… uh… yes. Please."

The girl with the pink hair glanced over at the burning convertible indifferently, then turned back to the stalker and Kurama. "Car crash?" she asked.

"Uh… yes," the stalker replied, still surprised with the other girl's great timing.

"Here, load him on the dragon," the pink-haired girl said. "I'll take him to the hospital."

She helped the stalker heave Kurama's limp body onto the back of the scaly dragon and asked, "Is this boy a friend of yours? He's a cutie."

"Uh… yes…" the stalker said, ignoring the girl's comment on Kurama.

"Why are you dressed like that?" the pink-haired girl asked. "It's a nice day out; why are you wearing a heavy cloak and covering your face?"

The stalker frowned behind the cloak. "That's really none of your business," she said rudely.

"Sor-ry!" said the other girl, backing up. "Well, I'll just take Cutie to the hospital. You can ride your motorcycle there and we can meet up."

The stalker frowned again. "I'd feel better if I came with you."

"Sorry," said the pink-haired girl brusquely. "Shibuki only takes two riders. No room for you!"

The stalker's eyes narrowed as she glared at the other girl. The girl with the pink hair gave her a mean smile and mounted the dragon, Shibuki. With a shouted command, Shibuki lifted off from the ground, spreading its dark wings and flying away and out of sight.

Angrily, the stalker got back on her motorcycle and started it back up. Gripping the handles tightly, she got back on the road and sped off toward the hospital.

* * *

_Hm…_ the pink-haired girl thought as she steered her dragon toward the city's hospital. _That girl says she knows this boy, but she's dressed like she doesn't want the other boy to know who she is. Maybe she's a stalker…?_ She glanced back at Kurama, who was still bleeding from his accident. _He _is_ a cutie _she continued_. I can see why he'd have a stalker. Wait… this gives me an idea… They always say two heads are better than one. The same should apply for lovesick stalkers_… _I think I just might… steal… this girl's idea and become Stalker #2…

* * *

_

"Suichi!"

Kurama stopped trying to count the tiles on the ceiling in his hospital room to look at his visitor. It was his friend in black: the stalker girl. Smiling, he greeted her, "Hello."

"Oh, Suichi! Thank goodness you're okay!" The girl ran over and gripped the hand that wasn't covered in bandages. "I was so scared!"

"I'm fine," Kurama said. "It's just a broken arm and some bruises. Nothing serious."

"Oh no!" cried the girl. "How are you supposed to dance with me with a broken arm!"

"I'll find a way," Kurama said. "I heard it was you that saved me from that car wreck. Thank you."

Behind her cloak, the girl blushed. "Well… ah… um… I had help," she said, thinking of the pink-haired girl. "So she got you here okay?"

"Who?"

"Oh, just a girl," his stalker said offhandedly, not wanting to remember her anymore. "Nobody important."

"Hmm. But really though, if I didn't have you as my personal stalker, I probably wouldn't be here. I would probably be dead. I don't know how I can ever thank you enough."

The girl blushed even more deeply. She struggled to say "You're welcome". Kurama smiled. "I wish I could hug you, but… my arm…"

The girl took the hint right away and leaned down to kiss him, her eyes closed and her lips gently brushing his cheek. Kurama's uninjured arm reached across her back, pulling her closer to him. The girl's dark brown eyes opened and she stared at Kurama. Kurama recognized that look; it was the look she gave him when they shared their first kiss in the dilapidated old shack by the soccer fields.

"Well," the girl whispered, breaking the silence. "I should probably go…."

Kurama sighed. "Okay. I'll see you again soon."

* * *

A half an hour later, another visitor came into Kurama's hospital room. Kurama saw her, and a look of confusion spread across his face. His stalker was back.

"Back so soon?" he asked.

The girl behind the cloak raised her eyebrows. "Huh?" Then she realized that the other girl, the _real_ stalker, must have already been there.

After she had dropped off Kurama at the hospital, the girl with the pink hair had run home to quickly make her own black cloak like the real stalker's, later going off to the nearest store to pick up a gift.

"Oh…" she said. "Yeah… well… I forgot to give you something," the girl said, slipping her hand inside her pocket. "Here," she said, taking it out and putting it next to Kurama. It was a small, stuffed bear holding a heart-shaped pillow that said, "Get Well Soon, Sweetie!" Kurama smiled, picking it up with his uninjured arm. "It's cute," he said.

The girl smiled. "I'm glad you like it," she said. "It will be our 'secret love item'."

"Like the umbrella?"

"What? Oh… uh… yeah. Like that."

"Thank you."

"'Bye, sweetie…" said the girl, bowing herself out of the room. Once she had walked down the hallway, she removed her cloak and shook out her medium-length pink hair. _That was close…_ she thought. _Next time before I start stalking someone, I should do more research on their other stalkers… Oh well. _With a smile and a happy heart, the girl skipped over to the elevators, waiting for one to take her back down to the main level.

* * *

NEXT TIME: YUKINA'S CONFESSION AND HIEI'S DECISION!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**evilchik**: I'm updating quickly because I already have the rest of the story all written out, and it's pretty much ready to be posted (save for the spell/grammar checking). Normally, it takes me about 4 days to update something… o.O; Anyway, you'll find out what our little pink-haired friend is up to. And no problem for the Keiko-hating. I personally can't stand her! She's so annoying! But that's just me. n.n Thanks for the review!

**Death to Those Blasted Ants**: Wow, you liked the new character add-in? That's cool. :grins: Anyway, you'll see who she is… eventually. And maybe Kurama does know her… or maybe not. You'll just have to wait and read. ;) I'm glad you're expecting well-written stuff from me. I expect of myself as well. :-P I hope I never disappoint you! Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: I'm glad you liked my chapters. I've never attempted reading a full Shakespearian… thing… too hard. Brain hurts. All I really learned from Shakespeare was odd philosophical adages: "To be or not to be…" Some days I ponder that question… lol, just kidding. Anyway, thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: No problem! Thanks for the comments; I'll be sure to keep them in mind for future writing. I'm glad you liked the chapters. Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: Well, thank you! n.n Confusion + lovesickness equals YAYNESS! I love drama and romance; those are my favorite types of writing. n.n And you'll just have to find out what happens to everybody… later! As for Yukina and Hiei… :points to next chapter's title: We shall see what happens to them next time. Thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	12. Yukina's Confession and Hiei's Decision

A/N: Okay, I think you all know where this is going. Just try not to flame, mmkay:innocent smile: Please review!

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**12. Yukina's Confession and Hiei's Decision

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**

"Get out already! Visiting hours are over!" Kurama's nurse shouted at Yukina, Hiei, Yusuke and Keiko, shooing them out of the room.

"This seems really unnecessary, keeping me here—" Kurama interrupted, but the nurse ignored him.

After being shoved out of the room by Kurama's nurse, the four of them walked away from the hospital room. Yusuke and Keiko went their separate ways, leaving Yukina and Hiei outside in the parking lot. Hiei was waiting for Yukina to leave so he could go home alone. He didn't want her to know he lived in a tree….

Yukina glanced nervously at Hiei, who was staring at her. She saw his eyes and almost melted; even with the slightly-pissed-off and impatient look, Hiei looked alarmingly attractive to her. Yukina's palms pressed against each other, trying to stop shaking. She knew that opportunity was calling; she had to tell Hiei _tonight_ that she loved him. She might not get another chance….

Taking a deep and steadying breath, she stammered, "Uh… H-Hiei… um… we uh… we have to talk."

Hiei didn't respond. He only stared.

Yukina took another deep breath, trying to calm the butterflies in her stomach that were flying around like a swarm of angry bees. Her palms were sweating like a fat, bald man playing soccer and were starting to shake uncontrollably. "This is… this is r-really hard for me t-to say…" she started. Her heart was thumping madly, faster and faster as they were a drum cadence. _I've never felt this way before… _she thought. _I _know_ that Hiei is The One…. He is the one that I am meant to love…_

"What?" asked Hiei impatiently. He was starting to get frustrated. _Yukina is acting strange... I wonder what's wrong with her... She didn't find out about… about us being siblings… did she…?_ He himself was starting to feel a bit nervous now also…

"I-it's… it's really important…" Yukina stuttered, trying to stall for time. She didn't—she couldn't—tell him…. Yukina bit her lip. _What if he doesn't like me?_ she thought. _What if he doesn't want to love me? I don't think I could possibly bear him telling me that!_ Tears formed in her eyes. "I… I…" Yukina fumbled for the right words, but they wouldn't come. Her throat closed up, and the tears leaked out from the corners of her eyes, turning into beautiful tear gems.

Hiei was confused. "Hn?" he grunted, letting a small amount of concern enter his low-toned voice. "Why are you crying?"

"Oh, Hiei!" she shouted, flinging her arms around him and lying her head on his shoulder. "Hiei…"

Hiei hoped nobody was watching as he put his arm across her back. _What's her problem?_ he wondered. "Yukina…"

Yukina looked up into Hiei's eyes and felt the butterflies in her stomach float away. She no longer felt afraid. All of her fear had just… melted away. She had this feeling…. A feeling that he wouldn't reject her… and she knew it was okay….

"Hiei, I… I love you."

Hiei blinked a few times before speaking. "What?"

"I love you, Hiei!" Yukina cried, wrapping her arms around Hiei's neck. "I've wanted to say this for the longest time, but I love you, Hiei! I love you more than words could ever describe!"

Hiei froze. Yukina, his sister, was in love with him! And not the kind of brotherly/sisterly love that some siblings shared, it was true love! Fairy tale love! I want to kiss you and hug you and make babies with you love! Hiei bit his lip.

_Well, that's the consequences for not telling her you're her brother!_ a little voice in the back of his head said.

Hiei knew that was true. When he was told not to tell Yukina he was her brother, that same voice in the back of his mind had said that that was a bad idea. The voice wasn't sure what might happen, but _something_ would surely happen that could land him in a heap of trouble if he didn't tell. Now that something had happened, and Hiei wasn't sure how to deal with it.

_Just… calm down…_ Hiei told himself. _Try to explain to her… She needs to know the truth. Better late than never… right? Isn't that what the humans say…?_

"Uh, Yukina… we…"

"Do you wanna go to a movie on Tuesday?" Yukina interrupted giddily. "We can go see that cute teen flick about the girl who falls in love with that boy, but he's not interested and, oh, what's that movie called…"

_She's not going to listen_. Hiei wracked his brain, trying to think of a solution for this that wouldn't hurt Yukina's feelings. Nothing came to him, so he answered, "Sure." _What harm could one movie be?_ he thought. _It's not like that's going to lead to anything…. I can put off telling her the truth for a while yet…_

_You coward_, said the nasty voice in the back of his head.

"Ooh, I'm so happy!" Yukina squealed, hugging Hiei again. "I'll see you Tuesday! If not, sooner! Bye!" Yukina let go of Hiei's neck and skipped away, her face glowing. She was going on a movie date with Hiei in two days! She was so excited, she could hardly wait!

Hiei shook his head. _What have I gotten myself into…?

* * *

_

NEXT TIME: THE MYSTERIOUS NEW GIRL'S NAME AND THE GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CHICKEN!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Mario Power Tennis RULES**: Yeah, the Kurama car-crash thing was just a random, totally unnecessary plot twist for the heck of it. It hardly comes up later; it's like magic-heal! O.o Aaaanyway… Ha ha, so what did you think of "Yukina's Confession", eh:le wink: Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: Well, the Keiko and Yusuke er… "goodness" (sorry, not a fan of that pairing…) comes up in just the next chapter! So stay tuned for that. :smirk: So you think you know who the stalker is? We shall see. Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: If I have time, I shall have to check out your stories. ;) I'm glad you like mine, and thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: Oh, no problem about not reviewing every chapter. I hope to get a job soon (I applied for two :crosses fingers: One's a writing job for the newspaper, the other is a job at the library) too, so I can kinda see where you're coming from. ;) Lol, I think it would be awesome to have stalkers. That means people care enough about me to bother stalking me! Aww, yay, that would make me feel loved! I mean, people do care, just… not to the creepy obsession "I LURVE YOU, CK!" kinda way… Okay. I'm rambling. I shall shut up and leave you to your reviewing. u.u Thank you!

**evilchik**: Glad ya like the double stalker action! sub-plot. XD If you could call it a sub-plot. I believe I am chalking this up to more than it is… Oh well. Chalking is fun… :plays with chalk and giggles: It's just so amusing… Sooo anyway… back to your review… Hah, I bet you'll love "pink-haired girl" in the next chapter:) And possibly even more so later! Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Mmm, markers… I remember we had to do an art project for school all done in Sharpies… wow. That was a fun day. Especially the day we forgot to open the windows… XD Eh, thanks for the review:)

**Princess Random**: Well, I update quickly, so you'll get around to knowing who it is eventually. ;) Drama and romance are my forte, if I am to give myself a forte… XP I lurve it. Yeah, bad drama and romance is frowny-full… : ( hee hee. And yes, trying is what matters! I'm trying here (this was my second YYH fanfic ever – I've written many more), soo yeah… Where was I? I got sidetracked by a Mr. Clean commercial… Stupid baldy… :grumbles: Anyway, thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17— 


	13. The Mysterious New Girl's Name

A/N: Yes, Kuwabara-bashing… because it's fun, and it's easy. Nothing (well, not much)against him. ;) Please read and review!

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**13. The Mysterious New Girl's Name and the Genetically Engineered Chicken

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**

"Minna-san," Miss Ishito, Kurama's homeroom teacher, addressed Monday morning, "we have a new student joining our class.."

A girl with pink hair and brown eyes stood up and walked to the front of the class. Yusuke and Keiko gasped; it was the girl with the dragon who tried to eat Keiko the night of the drama club performance!

"Her name is Siripini Minato, and she's from…" The teacher stopped. "Where are you from?" she questioned quizzically.

"Switzerland," Siripini answered offhandedly.

"Right. Well, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself, Siripini," Miss Ishito said.

"Well, my real name is Siripini Minato, but I prefer being called Spritzy," the girl said. A few in the class raised their eyebrows, and the other few just laughed. "I'm new here, and there's really not a whole lot else to say about me."

"Okay," said Miss Ishito. "Thank you… Spritzy. You may take your seat next to Yusuke."

Spritzy sat down next to Yusuke. Yusuke stared at her and made the noticed that she was much prettier up close. Spritzy noticed him looking at her and said sarcastically, "Take a picture, it'll last longer." Yusuke blushed, embarrassed that she saw him looking at her. But then he noticed that almost everyone else in the class was looking at her too. _She's like the female version of Kurama…_ Yusuke thought. _Attracting lots of fanpeople…

* * *

_

"Hey," Spritzy said, catching up to Yusuke after homeroom. "Hey, I'm lost. Can you tell me where the biology room is? It's my first class, and I don't want to be late."

Yusuke took a look at her schedule, then looked at his. "Hey, that's my first class too!" he said. "And it's just down the stairs and to the left. Want me to walk you down there?"

"Sure, that'd be great," Spritzy said, linking arms with him. Yusuke blushed again. The Great Spritzy was touching him! He noticed that a lot of the boys were staring at him, all with jealous looks on their faces. Yusuke grinned, glad he was walking arm-in-arm with the most beautiful girl in the entire school. _I think I just might go to this class now…_ he thought happily. _I hope she gets good grades; then I could copy her homework…

* * *

_

During lunch, Spritzy came to sit down by Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Botan. Keiko and Kurama were in the library, studying for finals.

"Hey," she said, sliding next to Yusuke. Yusuke's face went red again. The Great Spritzy had touched him once again!

"Hi," Yusuke said.

"Who's this?" asked Botan, who wasn't in his homeroom and hadn't met Spritzy yet.

"I'm Spritzy," she said, holding out her hand to Botan, who shook it.

"Botan."

"And I am the Almighty Kazuma Kuwabara!" Kuwabara said, shoving his face next to Spritzy, who pushed him away.

"Ew, gross!" she said. "You're not supposed to be HUMAN, are you?"

"Wh-what?"

"You must've had some really ugly parents to create such a thing," Spritzy said to Kuwabara. Her expression then changed to one of pity. "Oh, I understand now. You're a genetically engineered hybrid of a human and some kind of sick chicken or something. That's just awful, merging the chicken with a human…. That poor chicken…. It had its whole life in front of it…."

"What!" Kuwabara roared. "I AM NOT A CHICKEN!"

"Shut up, uglyface," said one of the senior girls, flicking Kuwabara's ear. "You look like a chicken, and you know it. Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!"

"Yeah, and you look real cool making chicken noises," retorted Yusuke to the senior girl who walked by laughing. "Kuwabara, let it go. Spritzy's just being stupid."

"Yes, you're not _that _hideous," said Botan, stifling laughter.

"I should just shoot you and put you out of your misery," Spritzy said, her eyes full of sadness. "I can't believe people would DO such things to a poor, helpless, innocent chicken!"

Yusuke choked on his food. He had to admit: Spritzy was hilarious. Kuwabara was fuming. Botan frowned.

"I mean, you were once a beautiful chicken, but now look at you! You're a freak of nature attending a public school! Doesn't that just make your blood boil?"

"Shut up!" Kuwabara growled. "I get enough crap from everybody else, I don't need it from you!" He stood up and left.

"Oh, Kuwabara…" Botan sighed. "Spritzy, I think you overdid it. That was mean, and you should apologize."

"Why apologize? It's not my fault he's ugly."

"Yusuke, I think your friend is being very rude," Botan said sternly, leaving the table too. "I don't like you," she added with curtly, nodding at Spritzy.

"Psh. Like I care," Spritzy said, turning to Yusuke. "I don't like them either. But I like you, Yusuke."

Yusuke smiled. _She likes me!_

"Which is why I was wondering, do you want to go see a movie with me tomorrow?" Spritzy asked.

"Sure!" Yusuke said enthusiastically. "I'd love to!" He was completely forgetting about Keiko.

"It's a date," Spritzy said with a wink.

* * *

Keiko turned away from the cafeteria, fuming. She saw Yusuke with that new girl, Spritzy, and she had decided to spy on them. And she had heard Spritzy ask him on a date – to which Yusuke had agreed! "Yusuke…" she growled in a low voice. She turned on her heel and ran off down the hallway.

_I can't believe him! That insolent, unsympathetic, uncaring little jerk! How dare he just go out with Spritzy like that! Did he totally forget about me?_

"Spritzy, I hate you!" Keiko screamed, slamming her locker shut.

* * *

NEXT TIME: DOUBLE-DATE AND THE POPCORN MASSACRE!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Fruits is NOT a Dessert**: Well, you'll just have to see what happens to everybody's favorite koorimes later. ;) Feel informed of names and chickens now? XD Thanks muchly for the review!

**evilchik**: Well, didja like this chapter? No comment on the review's second paragraph for fear of blurting spoilers… Aaand… as for Hiei being yours… Ya know, he's a very temperamental person. He might change his mind about Yukina and be a single man again. ;) :giggles: If I have time, I'll get around to your ficcie! Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Ah, I have yet to sniff whiteboard markers. Although I did have to clean whiteboards as a detention once, and the board cleaner smells not pretty… / Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: Thanks for the job well-wishes! I need to get out of the house and… feel like a part of the community that I don't even live in (ahh, dinky suburbs…). ;) Yep. Yellow-bellied Hiei:tickles him:gets burned: Ow… Well, ah, thank you very much for the review:waves:

**Anna Minamino**: Well, we shall see what goes on with Kuwabara, Yukina, and Hiei. Actually, I don't really remember myself. I guess I'll find out with you guys, huh:sweatdrop: Thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	14. Double Date and the Popcorn Massacre

A/N: Enjoy the chapter! It's pretty fun:)

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**14. Double Date and the Popcorn Massacre

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**

Tuesday night was the scheduled night for Hiei and Yukina's movie date. Ironically, it was also the scheduled night for Yusuke and Spritzy's date as well. Even more ironic, they were both going to see the same movie at the exact same time….

Hiei immediately spotted Yusuke in the dark theater. That didn't surprise him, but what did surprise him was that he had his arm around… not Keiko, but… some new girl whom he had never met. She was very pretty with her pink hair done up nicely and her perfect face grinning. Hiei wondered who she was and what happened to Keiko. _Oh wel,l_ he thought. _It's none of my business… And I don't care…_

"Hey, Hiei!" Yusuke called him over. Hiei walked over, and Yukina followed. Yusuke didn't see her. "What are you doing at the movies?" he asked slyly. "I thought human leisure activities were below you." He winked.

Hiei scowled and was about to reply when Yukina popped out from behind him, grinning like some madly obsessed fangirl. Yusuke raised his eyebrows; he knew Hiei wouldn't willingly take his sister to go see a movie… especially not a cheesy teen romance movie. Yusuke opened his mouth to say something, but Hiei gave him a look that said, "Shut up or I will wring your neck and watch your blood drip like a leaky faucet!"

"If you say anything, I swear I will kill you and your friend too," Hiei told him telepathically. Then, just to include a gross mental image, he added, "I will slit your throats seven times and hang you by your ears on rusty nails while your corpses rot and get eaten by rats."

Yusuke looked away, slightly disturbed by the graphic afterthought. Needless to say, he didn't say anything after that.

"Hi, Yusuke!" Yukina said, breaking the disquieting silence. "Who's your friend?"

"My name is Spritzy Minato," Spritzy replied, jumping up before she could let Yusuke introduce her. "Nice to meet you. And you are?"

"My name is Yukina, and this is my date, Hiei," Yukina said, staring at Hiei lovingly. Remembering Hiei's warning, Yusuke didn't laugh or say anything.

"Oh, you make the cutest couple!" Spritzy said with a giggle. "You can sit next to us!"

Hiei's face burned. Spritzy had just said that he and his sister made a cute couple; uncomfortable alarm signals rang off in his head. He sat down next to Yusuke, Yukina sitting right beside him.

"You're lucky you're so good with threats," Yusuke whispered to him, "otherwise I just might tell people about this…"

Hiei's eyes narrowed. Putting his finger to Yusuke's throat he growled, "I meant what I said about hanging you by your ears on rusty nails, Spirit Detective!"

"Oh, look! The movie's starting!" Yukina grabbed Hiei's arm and pulled him away from Yusuke. The fire demon had no choice but to watch the movie.

All throughout the film, Yukina would whisper at him, saying things like, "Isn't that sweet, Hiei? We should do that!" Yukina was acting so uncharacteristically girlie, Hiei thought he was going to be sick. It didn't help that Yusuke and Spritzy were making out through over half of the movie.

"Oh no!" Yukina cried, just as Hiei was seriously considering ditching the theater. "He's cheating on her! How cruel!"

"That's nice," Hiei said, not listening. It was disturbing, the way Yukina was holding his hand through the entire movie. It was also starting to scare Hiei the way she was always looking at him. "Yukina, could you stop—"

"THAT STUPID, CHEATING IDIOT!" Yukina shouted, standing up suddenly. Hiei quickly withdrew his hand and wiped it on his pants. Yukina whipped around and turned to Hiei, who looked startled. "If you ever cheat on me like that man on the screen, I swear I will hurt you!"

Yusuke couldn't help but laugh. _Like brother, like sister…_ he thought jovially. _Both are good at threats…_

Hiei wasn't fazed by her pitiful attempt at a threat. He only looked away, lamely agreeing with her. "Okay, whatever…" he said.

Yukina sat back down. She grabbed Hiei's shoulders and turned him around so she could stare back into his eyes. "I love you," she said. "It's like the love in the movie…. We might have our ups and downs, but we will eventually end up loving each other forever…"

Hiei was starting to feel even more uncomfortable. He wished the movie would just hurry up and be over….

* * *

Finally, after another hour of hand-holding and Yusuke and Spritzy making out, the movie was over. But before Hiei could make a run for it, Keiko came up from the back of the theater, a very angry look on her face.

Yusuke turned around, saw her, and gulped, terrified. Spritzy looked unperturbed. In fact, she even had a slight smile on her face, as if she had planned this…

"Yusuke…" Keiko seethed, holding two large buckets of popcorn. "Yusuke…"

"Oh! H-h-hi, K-Keiko…" Yusuke stuttered, backing away.

"Oh, don't think you can back your way out of this one!" Keiko snarled menacingly. "You're going to pay for this, Yusuke, and there's no avoiding it!"

Yusuke looked terrified. Hiei smirked. The beating he was about to get was enough to turn Hiei's night around. Except for the fact that Yukina was still clinging to him like lint on a sweater….

Keiko took the two buckets of popcorn in her hands and dumped them on Yusuke's and Spritzy's heads. Spritzy screamed as the salt and butter messed up her perfect hair. Keiko then kicked them both down. They stumbled and fell over the seats of the theater, tumbling down rows and rows of stadium seats, finally hitting the floor with a loud thud.

Keiko then vaulted over the chairs and began punching Yusuke repeatedly in the stomach. The popcorn bucket fell off his head, and his screams of pain amplified. Keiko roughly pulled him up by the front of his shirt and smacked him across the face as hard as she could. She then finished her brutal beating with a hard kick with a high-heeled shoe to his stomach, sending him flying into the movie screen. She left in an angry huff, sticking up her middle finger as Yusuke lay on the ground in pain.

"My goodness," said Yukina. "I never knew love could be so violent…"

* * *

NEXT TIME: HIEI'S WORST KISS EVER AND BOTAN'S WORST ENEMY!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: Uh, well, I hope this chapter answered your question of Yusuke and Keiko. :sweatdrop: I'm glad you like Spritzy. :D Thanks for the review!

**paisley**: Kurama and his stalker will show up soon. This is actually two stories combined into one (Kurama's Stalker and… everybody else's love issues), so it's trading off the characters in every couple of chapters. I promise you that the stalker is not an OC, but I can make no promises about your other guesses. I see that the only one you think fit for Kurama is Botan:smirk: Well, you'll just have to see who it is when you KEEP READING:) Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Thank you very much for the review:)

**Deus X Machina**: The only thing I can really say is that you'll have to keep reading to find out what's up with Spritzy. ;) I think you may be surprised… Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Hah! I'm glad you liked it. I knew you would. ;) Lol about the rest of your review. And I am still keeping silent for you in case I spill spoilers. All answers and random plot twists will come soon enough! In the meantime, I love hearing you try and figure stuff out, so keep reviewing and making me smile! Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Well, whiteboard cleaner smells just as bad as the markers themselves… :sweatdrop: I have checked out your fanfic; pretty funny! And to answer your question, yes, I did write this a while ago (April – July 2004), and I do have the files all on my computer. I'm just too lazy to look through all the chapters and remember what happens in this story. :-P Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: I'd probably announce my employment when or if I get any jobs. :) I'm glad you liked this chapter! I didn't really feel bad for Kuwabara… at least not in that chapter. :sweatdrop: I think I felt most sorry for him when Yukina dumped him… although I do remember that was fun to write… XD Anyway, thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: Well then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter:) The chapters probably are getting shorter… Eh. I wrote this a long time ago, and that was before I figured out that a decent chapter should be AT LEAST 1000 words… -.- Sorry if the shortness bugs you… :more sweatdrop: Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: The chicken line actually didn't completely come from me. My friend on my other website actually made up the line about chickens. She said something about that Kuwabara looks like a chicken… I just added the "genetically-engineered" part after watching South Park waaaay too much… :giggle: Anyway, thanks for the notice about your stories; I'll be sure to take a lookie at them when they are posted. Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: "Something" pretty much covers Spritzy's character quite well! Well, who knows about Keiko and Yusuke… especially now after the "Popcorn Massacre"! XP Thanks for the review!

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A/N: Wow, you guys gave me lots of reviews… YAY:) Keep doing it! See if you can beat my original review count on AnimeSpiral of 194!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	15. Hiei's Worst Kiss Ever

A/N: Sorry I took so long to update! I apologize profusely::apologizes profusely: Please read and review!

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**15. Hiei's Worst Kiss Ever and Botan's Worst Enemy

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**

Botan glanced at her watch. It was 9:30. _The movie should be done right about now…_ she thought. She was waiting for Yusuke, whom she had heard from Keiko had gone with that rude new girl, Spritzy. Botan didn't like Spritzy very much; she thought she was very impolite, conceited and sarcastic, and she wanted to have a talk with Yusuke about her.

But that wasn't the only reason she wanted to talk to Yusuke…. Botan's stomach gave a funny jolt when she thought about "it" – her crush. She secretly liked Yusuke… She knew it was wrong, her liking Yusuke when Keiko was already supposedly his girlfriend, but she couldn't help it! There was something about the smiling Spirit Detective that she really really liked….

* * *

Hiei and Yukina were the first to exit the theater once the movie had finished. Keiko had disappeared somewhere after the incident with the popcorn and was not seen coming out of the theater. Botan spotted them, and her stomach jumped again. She didn't know _they _had been at the movie as well….

* * *

"It sure was an interesting night, wasn't it, Hiei?" Yukina asked, twirling her hair with one hand and hanging on his left shoulder with the other. "I had loads of fun, how about you?"

"I'd be having more fun getting my teeth drilled…"

Yukina ignored him and steered him away from the main parking lot.

"Where are we going?" Hiei asked weakly, not wanting to have anything else to do with Yukina. "What are you—"

"Shh," Yukina said, putting a finger to her lips. "I don't want Yusuke to see us…"

_I don't either,_ Hiei thought, but he kept his mouth shut.

Yukina's eyes darted nervously around, searching for anybody who might be spying on them. The only people in the back lot were a couple of kids smoking pot, and they wouldn't notice if a giant nuclear bomb with purple strobe lights came flying straight at them. Yukina decided it was safe.

Hiei was nervous. What was Yukina planning to do…?

* * *

Finally, Spritzy and Yusuke came out of the theater. Spritzy had a sour expression on her face; Yusuke looked like he had come off worse in a fight. Botan poked her head from above somebody else's car to get a better look at the two of them. 'What happened…?' she wondered.

Spritzy spotted her hiding behind a car. She recognized her as the girl from school who had called her rude and said right to her face, "I don't like you". She figured that Botan was probably not here to go see a movie. The only explanation she could think of was that she was here to see either her or Yusuke.

_I think she likes Yusuke…_ Spritzy thought. _All the better to make her jealous!_ Spritzy grinned maliciously and clung tighter to Yusuke's arm, whispering something in his ear.

Botan's face burned. How dare she! That Spritzy girl, how she hated her. _I can't believe you would fall for someone like that, Yusuke…_ Botan thought. _She's as bad as the demons you fight!_

As if to prove Botan's thought, Spritzy put her arm around Yusuke's neck, bringing him into a tight cuddle – one not unlock a demon's death grip – all the while grinning devilishly at Botan. Botan knew she was just doing this to make her mad, but she didn't care! It WAS making her mad! She was going to tell Yusuke her true feelings about him tonight! But she definitely couldn't do that with Spritzy hanging on him like a clingy five-year-old…

Botan turned away, a tear of frustration running down her cheek. "Oh, Yusuke…" she sighed. "Get a clue…"

* * *

Yukina pulled Hiei close to her, and before Hiei could protest, she tightly locked her lips with his, drawing into a long, romantic kiss. Alarms were going off in Hiei's head; this was definitely not right! Hiei squirmed, trying to get away from his over-infatuated sister, but it was no use; when Yukina wanted to kiss somebody, she did it and wouldn't let go.

_Someone… help me… Anybody… please help me…_ Hiei thought desperately, feeling sickeningly powerless; he couldn't fight his sister. _This can't go on!_

"You should've told her the truth," the nasty little voice in the back of Hiei's head sneered.

"Shut up! I don't have time for you!" Hiei told the voice.

Finally, Yukina broke away, her face alight with pleasure. She was grinning from ear to ear; so happy was she to finally get to kiss the love of her life! Hiei, however, was looking far from happy…

_Go! Run!_ Hiei told himself, but the odd, out-of-character nice side of him made him stay and give a polite reason for ditching her.

"Yukina…" Hiei started.

Yukina smiled, if possible, even wider. She thought for sure that he was going to say, "That was the best kiss ever, Yukina! I've fallen even more in love with you…" But, of course, he didn't.

"Yukina, I have to go," he said bluntly. "It's… late, and I'm… not feeling well. Good-bye, Yukina." With that said, Hiei sprinted off at lightning-fast speed. Yukina blinked and he was gone.

"Wh-what?" the ice maiden said aloud. "What just happened? What was that about…?"

* * *

NEXT TIME: KUWABARA'S ANNOUNCEMENT AND SPRITZY'S BIG MISTAKE!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Che, there's more OOC-ness in here than Keiko flipping people the bird (I can't see it either, and I remember saying "wtf?" when re-reading the chapter…). :points to above chapter: OOC! Yay! lol. I dunno how long the whiteboard marker convo has been going on… Long time… Damn, markers are just that awesome… 8) Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Thanks for the review!

**HieiFan123**: Thanks! Eep, now I feel bad for not updating in… a few days… :embarrassed blush:snickers: But yes, Spritzy and Yusuke make a lovely couple… ummm… won't continue there… :sweatdrop: Thank you very much for the review; I'm glad you like the story!

**paisley**: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it. I'm not going to give you my opinion on Kurama x Botan, because if I did, that just might spoil the story. o.o We wouldn't want that. n.n But thank you for reading, and your comments make the sadistic author (yours truly) smile for making you nervous. :) Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: I know, I know, I get WAY off-topic with all the romantic couples. But I was telling somebody else last chapter or whatever that this was originally two different fic (at least fic ideas), but I decided to mesh them into one, and thus, a lot of off-topic rambling goes on. But do not worry, Kurama and his stalker show up… I wanna say next chapter, but I'm not entirely sure. In my ripe old age of 14, I'm forgetting just what exactly goes on in this little ficcie:sweatdrop: Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: I think "interesting" appropriately summed up that chapter. n.n OOC, some funny-ness, yeah, 'tis all there. o.o I had fun with Keiko dumping popcorn on their heads too… Dunno, that just seems like a Keiko thing to do… Well, you'll find out who Kurama's stalker is eventually! So hang in there and keep reading (and reviewing)! Thank you!

**blue kitsune251**: Yeah, she did come up with the chicken thing… Aaah, she is so much smarter than me, Spatula-sensei is… u.u I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter's date! Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: Whew! I am glad the shortness didn't bug you too much. n.n Heh, the funny thing is, I'm opposite of you. I don't feel bad for Hiei or Keiko, but poor Yusuke-kun… although he brings all of his pain upon himself. What a silly foo. :pats him on the head: Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Well, we'll just have to see what happens between Spritzy-chan and Keiko… ya know what, screw the honorifics for Keiko… Aaaanyway, hah, yes, you have pegged it. At least you pegged the part about me enjoying you second-guess and ponder what's going on in your reviews. :D You know very well that I can't tell you anything about what you think's going to happen. Hee hee. And you're going into high school too this coming year? Yay! Me too! I dunno, I always get the feeling that most of my reviewers are all older than me… o.o And then I feel like a stupid young'un… hee hee. Oh well. Thanks for the review!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	16. Kuwabara's Announcement

A/N: Um, Kuwabara-bashing warning… Don't flame for that. Enjoy the chapter!

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**16. Kuwabara's Announcement and Spritzy's Big Mistake

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**

"Um, good morning, students of Black Panda High."

Kuwabara's voice was the one on the loudspeaker that Wednesday Morning. It was his first time ever doing the morning school announcements; usually, that job belonged to class president, Keiko. But, with enough begging, the orange-headed boy was able to steal the microphone and limelight for the morning. He had something very important to say…

* * *

"Listen to him," Yusuke whispered to Spritzy. "I can't believe the Keiko actually let Captain Stupid do the announcements!"

Spritzy, sitting next to him, giggled maliciously. "He'll be a politician, that one. Loves to hear his own voice. He's just as stupid as one too." Yusuke snickered with her.

* * *

"My name is Kazuma Kuwabara, and I'm gonna do the announcements for today." Kuwabara squinted down at the lined paper in front of him that held the day's important notices. He frowned; this was taking too long! He had to get right to his point… "Today for lunch we are having corn and fish and rice with juice for an extra ten yen. Heh, that makes me hungry… Anyway, we got some other um… activities to do and stuff. But, first, I have to say something very important."

* * *

Now Yusuke was listening carefully. He hoped Kuwabara wouldn't make too big of a fool of himself… He braced himself for the upcoming embarrassment; whenever Kuwabara had something "very important" to say, it usually was not considered "very important" by his peers…

* * *

"This is for Botan," Kuwabara said in a deep, masculine voice. "Botan, my love, my sweetie, my darling… I love you. Will you go out with me?"

* * *

Time froze in Botan's homeroom. All eyes turned to her. Even the teacher was staring at her… Botan's eyes welled up with tears, and her cheeks turned a dark, reddish color. "No…" she whispered. "Not Kuwabara…"

Laughter broke out among the classroom. Fingers pointed, and kids whispered to each other as the bell rang for first period. Botan took grabbed her books, trying to hide her tears as she sullenly walked to the next class.

* * *

"Ohh, must suck to be you," one of the girls in Botan's first class said quietly as she sat down. "Having Kuwabara like you… gross…"

"You must be something special if the Great Kuwabara likes you," one of the boys teased.

"You two would make a great couple!"

The class started laughing again. Botan felt even worse. Now the whole class was making fun of her! Botan couldn't wait to get home…

* * *

Finally, it was the end of the day and Botan could run back to her house. She didn't say anything to Kuwabara who was waiting for her by the door; she just ran past as fast as she could, wanting to get away from the boy who made her so miserable.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kurama was packing his books into his bag, taking his time and hoping that his stalker friend would come and greet him. He looked forward to his daily meetings with her, and today was no exception. A secret part of him almost didn't want to know who she was; half the fun of seeing her was the mystery…

"Suichi!"

Kurama turned around and smiled when he saw his stalker behind him, wearing the same black cloak as usual. The girl ran closer to him and hugged him tightly. Kurama returned the hug and asked, "I missed you yesterday. Where were you?"

"Oh…" said the girl. "Uh… I was… you know… studying and stuff… I was busy. I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you." The girl's eyes sparkled lovingly, and she leaned forward to give Kurama a kiss.

Just as the two of them locked lips, however, the girl's hood started to slide from her head. She didn't notice; she was too absorbed in their kiss; but the hood was now halfway off her head, revealing her identity.

Kurama opened his eyes to break away from the kiss and almost gasped in surprise. His stalker's hood was down, and her face was clearly visible! The girl stared at him, wondering what he was so shocked about. Then it hit her; her head felt cooler now; the hood was off!

"It's… you…" Kurama said, voice surprised and slightly strangled.

The girl put her hands up to her head, feeling her silky hair instead of her hood. She looked down at the ground and didn't say anything. Her bright pink hair tumbled off her shoulders… With only one person in the school with pink hair, there was no question who the girl could be: Spritzy Minato.

"Spritzy…" Kurama said, saying her name. "It was… you…?"

Spritzy took one desperate look into Kurama's eyes, then averted them away from his beautiful face. Not saying anything, she turned on her heel and ran off down the hall and out of the school.

Kurama picked up the hood and looked at it. _So it was Spritzy the whole time… _he thought. With a strange feeling in his stomach, he put the hood into his backpack and walked out the door. _How could I have loved her so much when she didn't show her face, but now that she's revealed herself, I don't love her as much anymore…? Why am I… disappointed…?

* * *

_

NEXT TIME: SUICIDE AND SHIZURU'S LOVE LIFE!

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A/N: Chapter title not what you think! XD

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**evilchik**: Oh, man, your reviews are funny. And yet I can't give you the nice response you deserve because I would be handing out spoilers. o.o Hee hee, I didn't say you pegged anything in your REVIEW; I said you pegged the fact that I enjoy watching you second-guess yourself. Though you may have pegged something in your review. Or maybe you didn't. :smirk: Keep sending in your speculations; they highly amuse me! And you're bound to get one fact somewhere right sometime! Or maybe you already have… Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Yeah, Yukina is a bit OOC, isn't she:sigh: Ah well. All's OOC in love and war… :smacks self for poorly parodying adage: Anyway, I'm glad you enjoy the story; thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: Well, welcome back to the reviews section:) I'm glad you like the story. I'm also glad you enjoy the "equal role division" thing; other people say that it's losing its focus from Kurama and his stalker (which it is), but I'm glad you like it this way. And you know what I'm going to say about Kurama's stalker: You'll find out soon enough! Thanks for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Thanks for the review!

**paisley**: Ya know, there's still a good… 17 or so chapters left in this fic, so Botan's tastes could change… But I WILL assure you that Kurama's stalker IS female. Sadly, Chapter 3 was the only bit of yaoi in this entire ficcie… T.T :laments: Ah, thanks for the review! n.n

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Yeah, some of these chapters aren't as action-and-comedy-packed as others, but I'm glad you enjoy them just the same. n.n I hope you liked this one too. Sorry about your marker! T.T So sad:hands you new marker: It's purple. :D Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: Ahh, speculation, speculation, speculation. And in the end, you're right with this fact: You'll find out eventually. :) Yep, nothing like an added twist of incest to really yuck out a person here, eh? Silly-billy Hiei… secrets don't make friends, buddy; they make your sisters into lovers! O.O Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: Well, since Yukina's acting OOC anyway, we might as well drop a veil over her eyes to make her unable to see the familial resemblences. :sweatdrop: I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: No problem that you didn't like the last chapter. I'm sure that there will be other ones that you will enjoy. ;) Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: So true – Hiei IS bringing this upon himself:D Poor, pitiful EVERYBODY in this fic, huh (except for Yusuke, of course)? Thanks for the review! Glad you love the story:)

**Youko's Kitsune Girl**: Yaaay, thank you for all the reviews:) :) :) Heh, I know whatcha mean about finding out you made out with your brother… I don't have a brother, but the thought would be gross… o.o I can't even imagine making out with my best friend's brother, even though I do like him and used to have a crush on him (I'm over that now… Besides, he's a senior in high school now, and a little out of my league… o.o). But you'll just have to wait and see how the relationship between Yukina and Hiei goes along… Thank you very much for the review!

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A/N: Bring me up to 100 reviews! I know you can do it; I only need two more. :) But don't stop after 100! I wanna get 200+ by the end of this. That'll beat my total review count on AnimeSpiral. XD

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	17. Suicide and Shizuru's Love Life

A/N: Wow… so much… "drama"… ha ha. Um… try to enjoy, s'il vous plait… And don't forget to review!

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**17. Suicide and Shizuru's Love Life

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**

Botan dumped her bags at her house, then ran right back out. The news that Kuwabara loved her was absolutely devastating… and frightening. Images of Kuwabara flashed through her mind the whole day, haunting her… Everywhere she looked, she saw Kuwabara…

She ran past the school, past the hospital, and past the grocery store, finally stopping at the bridge over the wide Samaru River. Peering over the bridge, she saw the deep, swiftly moving river below. _With Kuwabara wanting to be a main focus in my life, I have nothing to live for,_ Botan thought melodramatically.

In between the ripples of the river, Botan saw her life flashing before her eyes. The day she had landed a job working for Koenma, the day she told Yusuke he could have a second chance at life, killing the Makai insects with her bug spray, being team trainer for Urameshi Team during the Dark Tournament… and now. Kuwabara's irritating, obnoxious voice rang throughout her head, echoing: "Botan, my love, my sweetie, my darling… I love you. Will you go out with me?"

Botan's fists clenched as the tears began running down her face. _I can't believe Kuwabara said that!_ she shouted in her mind. _I can't love him! No! No!_

Botan climbed over the side of the bridge so she could sit on the railing. The railing was thin, and she could fall off at any second, sending herself into the cold, strong waters of the Samaru River. _Nobody really cares about me anyway… _Botan thought sadly. _I'm sure no one would miss me if I died..._

She was about to hurl herself into the river when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning around slowly, Botan recognized the person behind her.

The person held out her hand and pulled her off the side of the bridge, getting her feet on stable ground. Botan looked into the eyes of the woman who had saved her and sighed.

"Why'd you do that, Shizuru?" she asked.

"Hey, we don't need any more dying people after the Dark Tournament," Shizuru said. "What's wrong, Botan?"

Botan looked down. She didn't want to tell Shizuru that her brother was the cause of all this.

"It's about my brother, isn't it?"

Botan nodded, her face turning red. "I know it's not a really big deal," Botan said quietly, "but when… you find out that someone loves you… and you love someone else and you don't love the person who loves you… no offense."

"None taken," said Shizuru. "If I were in your shoes, I'd probably kill myself too. But really, don't take it seriously. He's just desperate after what happened with Yukina. Yukina was the only person who wouldn't beat his face into the pavement if he talked to her."

Botan smiled. Shizuru had a way with words.

"Come on. Let's go back to your house. We can talk."

"Okay."

* * *

"You shouldn't let something like my brother's insignificant love get you down," Shizuru said as she and Botan sat down on the couch, both equipped with overflowing bowls of mint chocolate chip ice cream. "Even though I'm sure it was devastating."

Botan managed a small laugh. "It's just that… hearing 'I love you' from him… I mean… I never would've expected it! It kind of… made me feel sorry for him. But I couldn't love him. I could never love him." Botan looked away. "Because… I already love someone else… But I feel like I can't tell him… Not now… and I'm pretty sure not ever… My feelings for him will be just… all pent up inside of me."

"I know how that is," Shizuru said softly and truthfully. "I know how it is to love somebody, and yet you feel like you can't tell him how you feel."

Botan's eyes widened. Shizuru loved somebody? Botan didn't know if Shizuru was capable of that kind of love; she had always seemed so casually platonic before. She had "flings", yes, but never "love"…

Shizuru's eyes shifted towards the door. "I really like him, but I'm too scared to tell him. I know that's kind of babyish of me, but I really am scared. What if he likes someone else? My heart would be broken, and I don't think I could ever put it back together again. After all of the past romantic failures in my life, I don't think I could stand another."

Botan had never heard Shizuru talk like this before. _She could just be drunk,_ she thought. But despite that, she figured she had better listen while she could. She didn't want to miss any juicy secrets Shizuru might share with her; there were only so many opportunities where you got to hear Shizuru Kuwabara spill her guts out to you.

"Is that kind of how you feel too?" Shizuru asked, turning back to Botan and licking her spoon. "Like you really love this person, but you feel like you could never tell?"

Botan nodded slowly. She did feel that way. She had tried to tell Yusuke at the movies the other night, but Spritzy was there. She knew Spritzy would be hanging all over Yusuke now, so she could never – _would_ never – tell him. She would just have to sit there and watch her arch-rival be loved by the man that she had grown to love.

"You know people say 'Well, the worst that can happen is he'll say no'?" Shizuru continued. "That's a really bad way of cheering people up. Because if you ask someone if they love you, and they say no, and you really love them back, it's the most horrible feeling in the world. Like you'll never be happy or never love again. There's always that fear in the back of your head… But then you have to live with yourself afterwards if you never say anything… It's just a hopeless situation."

The question was burning in the back of Botan's throat, just waiting to be asked. With Shizuru talking about love and the problems that go along with it, she had never once mentioned the name of the person she loved. Being the gossip-lover that she was, Botan had to know the name of the lucky man in Shizuru's life…

"Who is it, Shizuru?" she asked, slowly and cautiously. "Who do you love?"

Shizuru looked down at her ice cream bowl, then looked back up. "You're the first person I've told about all of this," she said, now staring Botan in the eyes. "And I don't know if I can trust you…"

Botan nodded eagerly, egging her on. "You can trust me! You can trust me!"

"I'm afraid," Shizuru said. "Even to you, I don't know if I can tell you…"

"You can!" Botan urged, growing more and more excited. _Ooh, this is gonna be good!_

"Well…" Shizuru said slowly. The suspense was unnerving. Botan's hands shook in her lap. Shizuru was about to spill the most secretive secret in her life, and Botan was going to be the only person to know it. "Well… The person I love… is…"

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NEXT TIME: SHIZURU'S LOVE REVEALED AND THE REAL STALKER'S VISIT!

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A/N: Wow, I could not resist that one… XP Please review!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**kittyluv**: Hey, 99th review is special too! n.n So thank you for it!

**evilchik**: I've no doubt you'll peg one of your suspicions right on the nose. But, as you know, for now, I cannot tell you if you have or not. Just play these amusing little mind games with you… :sits back in chair and smirks: Anyway, I WILL tell you one thing: I wrote this fic even before the Sensui saga, so back then, I would have been like "Hinageshi who?" I still haven't even seen all the episodes… I'm stuck on DVD #27. The last time I had cash for anime, they were all out of #28's so I bought #29, but I can't watch it because I haven't seen #28:bangs head against desk: But don't spoil anything if you've seen all the eps, please. Thanks for the review!

**Red Kistune Flames**: ALL these chaps go by quickly… -.- But heh, thanks for not vilifying my short-chapter-ness and calling them "fun". Yay, that makes me feel better. :D Thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: Personally, I would love to have someone profess their love for me over the announcements… then again, Kuwabara is not one of those people I would enjoy hearing a love confession from… :sweatdrop: lol Ha ha, smart one you are. Of course I would tell you "just wait". XD I update semi-quickly so you'll find out EVERYTHING… behold ALL SECRETS… meh… eventually. Thanks for the review!

**Hieifan123**: I can think of something more embarassing than having one tell the whole school they love you: being the person telling the whole school you love them (speaking from experience – March 1, 2004: Ultimate Mortification. Needless to say, I was rejected. o.o) I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune Chic**:smirk: Who says it's Keiko, ne? Anyway, thanks for all the reviews:D

**Anna Minamino**: Thanks! And ya know, I am an angst fan, so who knows about Kurama. I just might leave him wallowing in misery for the next 8 chapters… ;) Just kidding. But the Yukina x Hiei situation, I believe, is "resolved" in Chapter 22, if memory serves me correctly… I know, long wait, sorry! o.o Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: Lol, "What did Botan do to deserve that?" Nothing. She just was beautiful enough to attract Kuwabara's attention… :sigh: Poor Botan… I think she's awesome too! My favorite YYH female character used to be Shizuru, but now it's Botan. I still love Shizuru though. ;) She's cool. As for your last question: "How did you manage to get me so entangled in the web of confusioness?" – I did not make you click the magic button that takes you to this fic. This is all your doing. But you're making the right choice by reading my fanfiction. :arrogant, ostentatious smirk: Heh. Thanks for the review:D

**heartluv**: Expect twists in this story. I love twists. Twists make me happy… :goes to play Twister… ha ha… no. That pun was not funny… : ( : Horrible conflicts are something of a fetish of mine… :giggles: And if you think I left LAST chapter at a "good part", wow, I almost cringe thinking of the reviews I'm going to receive for this cliffie… o.o Then again, I am a masochist somewhat when it comes to reviews, so I think I will rather enjoy them… :grin: Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**:giggles: Thanks for the review! "Ew, Spritzy"… ha ha … wow… That one makes me chuckle… for reasons I can't tell you… :more chuckling: Thanks again!

**Jillian Jiggs**: Aw, thank you. I'm glad you like the story, and I'm glad I can make you laugh. Thankies muchly for the review!

**jojogoodgirlgonebad2005**: Thank you. Yeah, it is a bit crazy and confusing, but hey, it's dragging in readers and reviewers like a black hole, so I'm happy. Glad you like it too! Thanks for the review:)

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Yep, the stalker IS a show character. "All coming together", hm, you think so:smirk: Well, I hope I alleviated your anxiety some by updating… then again, with this chapter, I don't think I did… : ( Ah well. Hey, I'm glad I got close to your favorite color there! My faves are black, red, and green. Thanks for the review!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	18. Shizuru's Love Revealed

A/N: Eh… meh? Read and review!

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**18. Shizuru's Love Revealed and the Real Stalker's Visit

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**

"Well… The person I love… is…" Shizuru was about to tell Botan who she loved, and Botan could hardly bear the suspense. Botan just wanted to grab Shizuru's neck and strangle the answer out of her. "The person…" Shizuru choked on her words. "The person I love is… is Hiei." Shizuru breathed a deep sigh of relief. She had finally told someone.

Botan's eyes widened. Shizuru had told her who she loved, and it was a total shock. _Hiei?_ she thought, surprised. _Hiei? The guy who gives death threats instead of handshakes? The guy who would mercilessly kill a ton of people to get what he wanted? Is this the same Hiei she's talking about?_ "Uh…" Botan's mouth dropped open and was stuck in that position, a confused sound coming from it.

Shizuru's face went red. "Pretty weird, huh?" she said nervously, fighting the impulse to jump out the window and run away.

"Uh…"

"You have to promise me you won't tell anyone!" Shizuru said, her voice suddenly rising, her tense cool dropping away immediately. "Promise me you won't tell!"

Botan snapped out of her stupor and replied, "I won't tell. I told you you could trust me, and you can. But, Shizuru… Hiei… wow."

"You don't think it's _that_ weird, do you?" Shizuru asked, hiding her mouth with her hands.

Botan shook her head hastily. "No no no no no!" she said only somewhat convincingly. "No, not all!" Her kitten face then returned to her visage, the devilish ears and paws making an appearance too. Shizuru sweatdropped and waited to hear whatever wacky plan or suggestion Botan had come up with now that she had "the face". "Now Shizuru," she sing-songed. "You need to tell Hiei! You need to tell him that you love him!"

"It was hard enough for me just to tell you," Shizuru said, frowning. "I can't imagine ever telling Hiei. I'm too chicken."

"But you have to…" Botan whined, her whiskers drooping.

"I will…" said Shizuru softly. "I will… when I'm ready…"

* * *

"Suichi…"

Kurama was at his desk in his room doing homework when he heard someone call his name. Rolling the swivel chair around, he saw a shadow at his window. "Suichi…" the shadow said again.

Kurama opened the window and a person in a black cloak stepped into his room: his stalker. Kurama looked down and sighed. He was trying to forget about the afternoon, when his stalker had came down the hall and kissed him, revealing herself as Spritzy. He just couldn't believe Spritzy was the one who loved him…

"Hi," she said, a bit too cheerfully for Kurama's liking.

"I know it's you, Spritzy," Kurama replied despondently. "You don't have to come in that costume anymore."

"What are you talking about?" the girl asked, a scathing edge lining her voice. "I'm not Spritzy."

Kurama looked away. He wasn't sure if he could believe her… Spritzy was kind of a notorious person, and she would definitely lie to him.

"What happened with you and Spritzy?" the girl asked sharply, demanding an answer. "Why do you think I'm her?"

"Stop playing around," Kurama said, his back teeth gritting together. "I don't like to be toyed with."

"I'm not playing around!" his stalker snapped angrily. "Now tell me, what happened with you and Spritzy?"

Kurama thought for a second. Was she telling the truth? Or was she just playing around? It was then that Kurama felt something in his heart, something that told him that he could trust this person, whoever she was. His instinct – which could definitely be trusted due to its demon roots – told him that this girl standing in his bedroom was not Spritzy. "Okay," he said, sighing at last. "Well, this afternoon Spritzy came up to mein the hall dressed as you, wearing the cloak and everything. I thought she was, so I treated her as I would you. Then she kissed me, and her hood fell off… and… it was Spritzy."

_He kissed her?_ the girl thought, worry gleaming bright in her dark eyes. _Did he… like it…? What if now he likes Spritzy? What if I'm not good enough? What if he'd rather have her instead of me?_ She bit her lip. "You didn't… you didn't… _like_ it… did you?" the stalker then asked nervously.

Kurama's eyes shifted back to his desk. "No… I didn't," he said. "When her hood fell off, I was… to be honest… disappointed."

The girl's heart leapt. He didn't like Spritzy! She was so glad, and she let out an audible sigh of relief.

Kurama smiled. "You're happy, aren't you?" he asked.

"I was afraid you'd start to like her more than me," the girl said.

"I love you," Kurama said, touching his stalker's cloaked shoulder. "I love you, and yet I don't even know you. I could never love Spritzy, because my heart already belongs to you."

The girl's eyes welled up with tears. That was the sweetest thing that Kurama had ever said to her in their short time of being together. "I love you too, Suichi," the girl said. "And I'm happy that you feel that way about me."

Kurama leaned in to give his stalker a loving kiss. Feeling the passion of her lips against his, Kurama knew that this was the real stalker he had grown to adore so much. Pulling away from each other, Kurama said, "I know for sure now, that you are the real one. Your kisses are much better than Spritzy's."

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NEXT TIME: KUWABARA'S PLAN C AND SPRITZY'S PROBLEM!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**evilchik**: Well, hey, lookie there, you got a pairing right! And in my opinion, the pairing with Kurama IS far-fetched, but… well… I won't go into why. Then again, if I remembered canon, it isn't THAT far-fetched… wait… yes it is. Now I'm confusing myself! 9.6 Ah! Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Well, you got two out of three in this chapter. The Yukina and Hiei saga continues, I believe, in Chapter 22, but it could be earlier. Thanks for the review!

**Hieifan123**: Heh, well, I'm kind of notorious for big, obnoxious cliffies such as the one last chapter… :shifty eyes: But I'm glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: What can I say? I got a thing for cliffies… Ya know, I used to have a friend (not my friend anymore) who would call cliffies "rockies". Yeah. Just thought I'd share that. n.n; And yeah, that is weird that you're HAPPY there's another stalker? If that were the case with me, I'd be like, "Hey! Stalker! I was here first! MINEMINEMINEMINE:hiss:" Of course, then again, I'm a little on the possessive side… DON'T STEAL MY CHEETOS:runs after gnome: Anyway, glad you liked the chapter! And about the colors, ya know what's interesting? I used to go to a private Catholic school, and a friend of mine did this poll on the 8th grade's favorite color. She comes up to me and asks, "What's your favorite color?" I answered "black", and she says, "Oh, black's not on the list. You can pick pink though!" I then told her that if black isn't on the list, pink shouldn't be either because it's not a color of the rainbow, and only colors of the rainbow should be on the list if she's gonna be that way… Wow. This is long. I'll end it now. Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: Well, catch up whenever you can! I'll always be here… waiting… for your reviews… heh. Thank you, and have fun on your vacation!

**kittyluv**: See, ya know, a lot of people don't pay attention to the times I hint at the color of her eyes. Of course, you know, I could be lying or she could be wearing colored contacts, but anyway, good of you to notice the hint. I'm not really in much suspense though… well… yeah… kinda… Damn it. You win. u.u Woah, it's like… dark outside… weeeird… A-hem… anyway… thanks for the review! n.n

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: It's boring when it has a cliffhanger? O.o Meh. Whatever. The chapters are already pre-written (I just edit them up a little bit to make 'em sound like a 13-year-old didn't write it… no, I make it more gooder like a 14-year-old's writing:D), but I hope the next… however many more there are… won't be boring! o.o Thanks for the review!

**Jillian Jiggs**: Well, cliffhangers are a fetish as well as a specialty of mine. :-P I like keeping my readers in suspense. Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: Yep. I had to write a cliffhanger. If I didn't, this guy standing right next to me with a gun shoved at my head would fire and then I would DIE. o.o Just kidding. I just like cliffhangers because it brings such amusing responses from me readers… n.n Anyway, it's good that you have so many ideas – one of em's bound to be right. XD Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune Chic**: If it was Keiko, and she dumped popcorn on Kurama's head, I would be sad. Because then his hair would be all greasy (albeit shiny), and it wouldn't be any fun to run your fingers through… T.T Loved the "immortal words"! XDDD Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: I'm glad you liked the chapter (and yay for angst! n.n). I should hope that now you know who Shizurus likes. ;) Thanks for the review!

**Moomoogirl1**: Eh… heh heh… Yeah, everyone does like someone in this story… How… odd… O.o; Oh well. More fun that way. Thanks for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Lmao, your review was funny. Hee hee. n.n I like ending chapters with big, annoying cliffies; they bring such joy and emotion to my review pages! XD Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: O.O "Arrogant little monkey"… wow… I am so gonna make a nametag for myself that says that… Lmao! Anyway, thanks for the review! Don't fall off your thread!

**jojogoodgirlgonebad2005**: Heh, if you actually want to know the true meaning behind my name, it goes like this: crazy I'm crazy. Duh. But anyone can figure that out. kitsune symbolizing my love for Kurama! 17 Kurama's age at the end of the series, albeit my favorite number for that reason. n.n Yeah, I know the story's a little confusing what with tangled love webs every which way and all that, but it's fun, ne? Anyway, thanks for the review! Glad you liked it!

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A/N: Whew, that took me a long time to get through all the reviews! n.n Yay! Thank you for them!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	19. Kuwabara's Plan C and Spritzy's Problem

A/N: I was reading my original A/N for this chapter (the one from spring 2004), and this must've been the day I got detention for making a paper airplane with pictures of people I didn't like dying on it… Ha ha… wow… I'm so bad… u.u Interesting memories, though. Ah well. Enjoy the chapter! Sorry for the wait; I got lazy! SO SORRY! Please review!

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**19. Kuwabara's Plan C and Spritzy's Problem

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**

"Good morning, students. It's the almighty Kazuma Kuwabara speaking again!" Kuwabara was once again doing the school announcements, much to everyone's displeasure. Keiko had to shove over and let him do it because he wouldn't stop begging. Kuwabara's groveling was such a pathetic sight, that Keiko just had to give in. "Today is Thursday…"

Another two minutes later, after the usual school notices were vocalized, Kuwabara had another "important" announcement to make to the class. Botan sank down in her seat, covering her ears with her hands and her face flushing red..

"I have another important announcement to make today," he said. A few people in Botan's homeroom started to laugh, looking at her. Botan shrank even lower into her chair. "This is for someone very special… Keiko Yukimura, my darling sweetie-pie… Will you go out with me?"

The whole class erupted in laughter. Botan sat up straight and sighed with relief. Keiko, in the front of the room, turned bright right and clenched her fist. _I am going to KILL Kuwabara_! she inwardly shouted. _The nerve of that idiot!_

"Kazuma Kuwabara, I need to speak to you," Keiko said levelly, trying to keep the anger in her voice down to a bare minimum.

Kuwabara giggled happily as he shoved his face right in Keiko's. "What's up, honey-bun?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrow in a flirtatious manner.

"This!" Keiko brought her fist back and sucker-punched Kuwabara right in the face. He stumbled backward, his lips and nose bleeding. "Wh-what?" he gasped. "What was that for?" Keiko didn't answer; she responded with a swift kick to the groin, knocking him to the floor, crumpled in pain. To add insult to injury, she whacked him over the head with her binder and shouted, "What kind of act do you think you're pulling! If you think this is funny, it's not! What is your problem? You're worse than Yusuke!" She stomped away huffily, leaving Kuwabara on the ground, whimpering in pain.

"He's hopeless," Yusuke said to Spritzy after Keiko had walked away. "He'll never get a girl…"

Spritzy laughed. "He should just give up…"

* * *

"Welcome home, Spritz," Shibuki the dragon said as Spritzy walked into her rented three-room home. "Did you get any more kisses in?"

"No," Spritzy said brusquely. "I can't really do that without being conspicuous. It _is_ a high school, and news will spread around fast that I'm a whore or something…"

"Well… you _are_… A glorified one, anyways…"

Spritzy hit Shibuki hard on the head with her fist, setting her bookbag down with her other hand. She took out a bottle of hard liquor from the refrigerator and blew the cap off with her spirit energy, letting it fall to the floor with a "clink". Sitting down on the rust-colored old couch in the living room/kitchen, she then took a long drink. Shibuki sat and watched his master down the whole bottle, then throw it aside.

"This imported stuff tastes like crap," Spritzy said. "Just like that stupid potion…"

* * *

"…_and it will make you young forever," the old hag had told Spritzy the night she paid a visit to an ominous-looking portal to Demon World. The old woman had cornered Spritzy and then conned her into taking a potion that she had concocted from the blood of a supposedly-immortal demon that she claimed to had slain herself. _

_Spritzy took the vial with the potion in it and looked at it suspiciously. "Forever, you said?" Spritzy asked. "Is that so?"_

"_Well, there's a catch," the old woman said. "For one thing, I lied when I said you'd be young forever. You'd just be reverted back to your younger years and relive your life after that. It's like getting a second chance at reliving your past. And as your past was rather… abnormal… I'm sure you'd want another chance at a normal life, am I right?"_

"_Well, I like my life the way it is, but I suppose it wouldn't be so bad to see what it's like without fighting and training all the time…" Spritzy said pensively. Despite her morals and gut feeling that this was a bad idea, the temptation was terrible and impossible to resist. "Why not?"_

"_And the other catch is, you have to kiss five boys for the potion's spell to work," the old hag said. "If you don't, you will be reverted to the way you are now in exactly seven days. A week is enough to break five boys' hearts, right?"_

_Spritzy scowled, but she took the potion. "Don't expect me to give you anything for it," she said gruffly, turning her back to the old hag and leaving, but not before turning back and adding one last remark:_

"_And kissing five boys will be easy. Piece of cake."

* * *

_

"You're gonna have to just pick three more random boys to kiss tomorrow," Shibuki said sternly. "Friday's your last day."

"I know it is, shut up," snapped Spritzy rudely. "But I'm kind of having second thoughts about this reverting to my younger self thing though…"

"See? What did I tell you? I told you you'd regret this!" Shibuki said pretentiously. "I told you!"

"On the other hand…" Spritzy continued, ignoring him. "On the other hand, I kind of like being this little skanky whore at Yusuke's school… It's kind of fun and most certainly amusing messing with everybody's heads…"

"You sick, insensitive woman…" Shibuki sighed, shaking his head. "Make up your mind!"

Spritzy thought about her options. She could kiss three random guys by four o'clock tomorrow and stay young, or she could op out and return to her normal form. Each prospect suited her just fine, but she decided on staying young for a while. _Nobody knows who I really am,_ she thought, _What real harm could be done in this?

* * *

_

NEXT TIME: GIRL FIGHT AND SPRITZY'S TRUE IDENTITY REVEALED!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Kitsune Chic**: And in this fanfic, one can never really tell who's lying and who's not. Or who changes their mind… Heh. Glad you liked the chapter! Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: Whoops, sorry for cursing you… :sweatdrop: I will say that Kurama's stalker is not an original character created from the "slightly disturbed" (that's an understatement, my dear reviewer u.u) depths of my mind – it's a character from the show. Which one it is, I can't say of course, silly. :-P Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Heh, congrats on a lucky guess. :-P Just kidding. I never REALLY said the Kurama x stalker pairing was far-fetched… I just THINK it is, but the author cannot speculate for her entire reading and reviewing populace on what could be considered "far-fetched". Ha ha, I gave you a lawyer answer. XP But that's cool you like Spritzy… :snickers: Oh man, I am so amused… That makes me happy. Anyway, wow, you got another pairing right – Kuwabara and Keiko… however short-lived it was. Congrats again! Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: One of the stalker issues was settled anyway. The main one of her identity has yet to be solved, but of course, that allure just adds to the fun, ne? Thanks for the review! Glad you liked the chapter!

**RaieChibiKid**: Yay, I have accomplished my ultimate goal of "weirding you out"! n.n Yay for me. :does dance: Lol, I think this is funny. Half of my reviewers hate Spritzy, and the other half like her. Either way, I laugh at what ya'll think about her. 'Tis so amusing. Anyway, glad you liked the chapter; thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Well… I think I'll just let you see when (or if) the stalker is revealed for yourself. ;) Don't think I didn't ask my buddy to add black to the color poll list. But she got all indignant and was like, "No, I already started the poll, and I don't want to change it!" Baka baka baka… :shakes head: Ah well. Thanks for the review!

**jojogoodgirlgonebad2005**: Really? You never expected a Shizuru x Hiei pairing? Hm, that's very interesting. I personally am a fan of the Shizuru x Hiei pairing. Shizuru is the only girl I could ever really see Hiei with… His other option in my book is Kurama or… just nobody. A life of miserable aloneness… But I digress! Glad you liked the chapter, and thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: I'm glad you liked the chapter. I really like the Shizuru x Hiei pairing. Fun Fact: My first YYH fanfic ever had a Hiei x Shizuru pairing. n.n; I'm glad I'm keeping you in suspsense! Thanks for the review!

**Deus x Machina**: And can you really see Hiei or Shizuru with anyone else? … Well, okay, badly phrased question, but… eh. Thanks for the review!

**Takara Taji**: Wow, thank you for all the reviews! They is greatly appreciated. It's so much fun to see your review count skyrocket like that… ha ha, thank you. Yep. Kurama's smart enough to know his real stalker. What a good boy he is, ne? Anyway, thanks for the review!

**kittyluv**: Lol, hey now, dozens of other people have left incorrect guesses as to who the stalker is in their reviews; you can do the same. … Hee hee, I'm just nosy and wanna know who you think it is, tee-hee. Wow, I do the 2am-get-up-at-7-thing too… sometimes. That's why caffeine is my friiiieeeend… Except with me it's usually 1am, but same difference! Anyway, thanks for the review!

**Jillian Jiggs**: Thank you very much:bows: Glad you liked it!

**blue kitsune251**: Glad you're having fun in Cali! I've always wanted to go there… I mean, there's Disneyland and earthquakes (always wanted to feel one of those n.n;) and movie stars! And lots of shops and hot, shirtless guys who surf! XDDD O.O Wow… you're tall! I feel so short… again! 5"3… T.T I used to be the same height as the guys I liked (even taller!) back in 6th and 7th grade, but now, they all just tower over me… it's so sad… :sniff: Lol, thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	20. Girl Fight

A/N: Heh heh… Ummm… nothing to say! o.o Please review!

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**20. Girl Fight and Spritzy's True Identity Revealed

* * *

**

"Hey, Minato!"

Spritzy turned around Friday morning at Black Panda High and saw a group of eleventh-grade girls standing around her with their arms crossed. None of them had very happy looks on their faces. Spritzy wondered what their issue was.

"What is your problem, Spritzy?" one of the girls asked, shoving Spritzy against a tree.

"Yeah, what is your problem?" another girl repeated.

"I don't have a problem," Spritzy said crossly. She was already in a bad mood from last night; Shibuki, her dragon, kept constantly reminding her that she had to just go ahead and kiss three random boys. She didn't need these older girls to come and pick on her. "Leave me alone."

"I don't think so," said the biggest girl in the group, obviously their "leader". "We're not gonna leave you alone until you leave our boys alone!"

"Your boys?" Spritzy scoffed. "What in the world are you talking about?"

"We saw the way you were locking lips with Suichi the other day!" one girl with big eyes shrieked. "We saw! We saw!"

"And we don't like," said the big girl. "You lay off Suichi, okay?"

"Why? He's free game, isn't he?" Spritzy said. "I have just as much right to kiss him as you do." Spritzy didn't add that she knew he was taken by the mysterious stalker girl.

"Not for you," the big girl said. "We don't wanna see any more of your little 'love games' with Suichi. If you do, you're gonna get it."

Spritzy snorted. "Are you saying you want to fight me?"

"That's right," said a tall girl with brown hair. "To make you pay for what you did to Suichi—"

"Suichi doesn't care what I do to him!" Spritzy retorted. "He likes it!" She knew what she had just said was a lie, but she said it anyway.

"Don't make no difference," said the big girl. "You're still gonna get it anyway. After school. Three o'clock. Right here. Be there." She turned around and beckoned for her friends to follow her. They did, their noses stuck up in the air, their long hair swishing behind them.

Spritzy stayed, still against the tree and looked at them strangely. "That was odd," she said quietly to herself, but she shook it off and went back into the school building so she could grab Yusuke and drag him out of class (it wasn't hard to do).

* * *

The girls from that morning weren't the first ones to challenge Spritzy to a fight. It seemed that word had spread about Spritzy's little escapade with Kurama, and not too many girls were happy with it. As soon as she walked in the door to homeroom, she was confronted by two other groups of girls. She couldn't get a chance to go find Yusuke because the other girls who liked Yusuke wanted to challenge Spritzy as well. There was challenge after challenge after challenge for Spritzy, and by lunchtime, there were three more!

Spritzy, her boiling point almost reached, stood up on the table and shouted, "May I have your attention!" The entire cafeteria fell silent as all heads turned to Spritzy. "Thank you," Spritzy said huffily. "Now, I noticed that there are a lot of people who wish to fight me. Since there are so many of you, why don't we all just go out after school and have one big fight in the courtyard—me against all of you."

There were whispered murmurs and nods of heads throughout the cafeteria. The boys had no idea what was going on; they had been totally oblivious to the groups of girls cornering Spritzy everywhere they went. The girls, however, were discussing battle plans and snickering evilly. Spritzy looked around at the groups, and exhaled loudly. "Well, it's settled then, I guess. See you after school." She hopped down from the table and went to go sit down by herself at an empty table.

* * *

Once lunch was over, Yusuke caught up with her and pulled her over. "What's going on, Spritz?" he asked. "What were you talking about at lunch?"

"None of your business," Spritzy said brusquely, trying to get away from him. "It's really no big deal…"

"Yeah, it kind of is a big deal," Yusuke said, worried. "If you go up against all those girls, you're going to get hurt. I don't want that."

_He obviously doesn't know that I could easily take on a bunch of stupid high school girls with my kind of power…_ Spritzy thought grimly. "I'll be fine," she said. "I have to go…" She left Yusuke standing by the wall, a confused look on his face.

* * *

_I can't complete my mission with all these fights!_ Spritzy thought, frustrated. _I have until four o'clock this afternoon to kiss three more boys. It's already 12:30! And with all these girls following me everywhere, I can't just kiss random guys! I mean, I guess I could if I wanted to… but if those girls saw me, they would for sure all gang up on me and starting fighting me right there on the spot! I have to run… I have to get out of this school and find men on the street… But I can't skip out on the fight… _Spritzy walked around with her frantic thoughts for about fifteen minutes until she ran into Kurama.

"Oh, sorry," she said distractedly. Kurama stared after her as she kept walking. He had been in the library studying when Spritzy had made her announcement to the cafeteria, and he had no idea what was going on.

Being the nice and caring person that he was, he asked her, "What's wrong, Spritzy? Anything I can do to help?"

Spritzy stared into his soft green eyes helplessly. She wished there was something he could do, but to be truthfully honest with herself, there was no one in the world that could help her. If only she hadn't taken that potion… But she really wanted to stay young like this. It was fun reliving her teen years, even if half the school hated her. Spritzy looked down at the grass and said, "No, Suichi. This is something I have to deal with myself."

Kurama looked around to see if anyone was watching. "I understand," he said softly. He looked at Spritzy once more, watching her sad brown eyes stare at the grass and her long pink hair flutter with the wind… This was a completely different girl than the usual rude, loud, insensitive girl who came to the school only a few days ago. He remembered kissing her in the hallway on Wednesday. How it had felt so wrong… so much unlike his real stalker's kiss. He felt bad for not liking it more, even though this wasn't his real stalker. He almost felt like he owed her or something…

"Spritzy," he said quietly. "I'm sorry about… what happened a few days ago."

_Why is he apologizing to me?_ Spritzy wondered, looking back up at him._ He didn't do anything wrong! It was me who did the wrongdoing… _She tried to apologize to him as well, but the words caught in her throat as Kurama leaned down and kissed her.

_What is he doing?_ Spritzy thought wildly as he caressed her back and shoulders. _I thought he didn't like me! Why is he doing this…?_

Kurama broke away a few seconds later. "I have a feeling that I won't be seeing much more of you," he said furtively. "I hope that pays you back from any trouble our other kiss might have caused." He left.

_That made no sense to me at all,_ Spritzy thought, touching her lips._ But I liked it. I wonder what he meant when he said that he has a feeling that he won't be seeing much more of me…? Does he know… my secret…?

* * *

_

Finally, it was three o'clock, and already a large group of girls were standing in the courtyard waiting for her. Not counting the kiss she shared with Kurama a few hours ago, Spritzy had only kissed two boys. There was almost no hope for her now. _It was nice while it lasted…_ she thought wistfully. _Let's just get this over with… Time to kick their asses…_

Spritzy wasn't nervous about the fight. The only thing she was nervous of was that the fight would last an hour and that the whole school would see her transform; she was due to turn back into her regular form at four.

Then something caught her eye. In the back of the group of girls and spectators, was Hiei. _It's Hiei, that kid from the theater who was with that ice apparition…_ Spritzy thought. _One more man for me to kiss…_ Pushing past the girls, she ran at Hiei and planted her lips on his.

_What the hell!_ Hiei yelled in his mind as Spritzy came flying at him. He shoved her off after she got her kiss in and shouted at her, "What was that for!"

Spritzy didn't answer; she just turned around and went into the middle of the ring of fighters and spectators. _Three down, two more to go… _Her eyes scanned the crowd for any more boys, but it was mostly girls who had shown up for the fight.

Shizuru and Yukina were at opposite sides of the courtyard and had both seen Spritzy just walk up and lock lips with their man. This made them both very angry… They would join the fight against Spritzy as well…

Spritzy stopped looking for boys and sighed. "All right. Let's get this over with!" she said sharply. "Come on, give me all you got!"

Almost every girl charged at Spritzy. Some had weapons, some just had their fists. Spritzy expertly blocked most of their attacks, startling some of the girls. They didn't think Spritzy could fight.

Shizuru and Yukina both launched themselves at Spritzy and began showering her with punches and kicks everywhere. These two were the only possible formidable opponents of hers. Spritzy punched and kicked back, but the two girls just kept going. They kept fighting for what seemed to be eternity. None of the girls would give up. The others just stood back and watched.

"Those two aren't from our school, are they?" one girl asked her friend.

"No, I don't think so…" her friend replied. "I've never seen them…"

Spritzy stole a glance at her watch. 3:57. She gasped. So much time had passed! She had to get out soon! She kicked Shizuru and Yukina down, then let her spirit energy build up. A misty pink aura surrounded her, shocking the crowd, Shizuru and Yukina especially, since they knew what spirit energy was.

"Wh-what is that…?" a girl stammered.

"I don't know…"

Spritzy pulled her right arm back. Her fist was glowing ominously, pink sparks shooting out and scaring people.

"Hey, isn't that…?" Kuwabara started. He and Yusuke had just shown up for the fight in time to see Spritzy about to launch her spiritual attack.

Yusuke's eyes widened. "It can't be…" he whispered.

"How come I didn't sense her spirit energy before…?" Kuwabara thought aloud to himself. "That's supposed to be something I'm good at…"

"The only thing," Yusuke retorted, momentarily taking eyes off the fight.

Kuwabara looked back toward the fight. "Woah!" he gasped. "Yusuke, I think that is!"

_3:59… I have to make this count!_ Spritzy thought, glancing at her watch again. "Shotgun!" she yelled, throwing her fist out at the crowd.

Instead of a wave of energy knocking the crowd down, there was a large wave of energy engulfing Spritzy. It created a half-circle around her that nobody could see inside of. Everyone stepped back, surprised. What was going on?

There was an earsplitting whistling noise like that of a teakettle's, and the giant ball of energy exploded. At first it looked like there was nothing left where Spritzy was standing, but then the crowd could see a small woman lying on the ground.

Shizuru and Yukina gasped. They recognized this woman…

The woman stood up and groaned. Her head hurt, and there was a huge group of people watching her. She then remembered what had happened, and looked around in fear at the crowd watching her. She looked at Yusuke and Kuwabara, who were both standing openmouthed with shock. She looked at Shizuru and Yukina, who seemed paralyzed. She looked at everyone else, who were just plain surprised. She got up, jumped over the fence and started running as fast as she could out of there.

"Wasn't that… Genkai?" Kuwabara managed to say.

"Uh-huh…" said Yusuke, his face turning pale. "I can't believe I made out with Genkai… I feel sick…"

Botan and Keiko, who were nearby, stared after Genkai running away with shock.

"That… was Genkai?" Botan asked.

"I guess so…" Keiko said. Then she clenched her fists in anger. "I can't believe Genkai could be so cruel! She stole Yusuke away from me! The nerve of that woman! I can't believe her!"

"I bet she thought she wouldn't transform back into her normal form," Botan said logically. "She thought she could get away with all this…"

Some of the other girls from the school were whispering among themselves.

"That was an old lady?"

"How did that happen?"

"Did you see that?"

"I don't understand…"

Meanwhile, Genkai burst into her house, grabbed Shibuki by the tail and roughly said, "Come on. We're getting out of here."

* * *

NEXT TIME: ANOTHER UNFORTUNATE SIDE EFFECT OF HUNGER AND THE QUEST TO HIEI'S HOUSE!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Yeah, I'm sorry, but a lot of my chapters for this are really short. T.T This one was longer though. Hope you enjoyed it! And yes, amusing Kuwabara… getting hurt… silly-head! Lol, thanks for the review!

**hieifan123**: Yeah, Kuwabara x Keiko makes my eyes go all twitchy… O.o; Yep, totally random, odd plot twist the Spritzy-kissing-people thing… Dunno what inspired me to do that. Spritzy was a totally unnecessary character thrown it for who-knows-why… Even I don't know. Anyway, thanks for the review!

**heartluv: **Well, I guess this chapter answers that question… ha ha Yup. 'Twas Genkai-sama! Good guessing! Actually, Kuwabara somehow heard it through the grapevine (his sister) that Botan didn't like him back, and that's why he switched girls. I never mentioned it, but that's why. :sweatdrop: Thanks for the review!

**Takara Taji**: Your review makes me just wanna say "There's Something About Spritzy…" ha ha. Well, hope this answered your question! Thanks for the review!

**Anna Minamino**: Okay, lol, not gonna ask about the Hiei and Sailor Moon pic… Sounds interesting though! Anyway, thanks for the review! Glad you liked the chapters!

**Risk-Draka**: Thank you very much! I'm glad you liked it!

**evilchik**: Yeah, can't help but feel bad for Kuwa-kun… :laughs: Yep. And isn't this what you predicted a long time ago? A girl fight? Hope you er… found it interesting! n.n' Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: I'm wondering what you'll say about her after this… :ponders: Hee hee. Glad you liked the chapter! Thanks very much for the review!

**Princess Random**: Well, good! I'm glad you don't want stuff spoils. It always floors me how some people gobble up spoilers like milk chocolate… Hee hee, well, thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	21. Another Unfortunate Side Effect ofHunger

A/N: This chapter's title comes from those old Snickers commercials… remember them? Man, I loved those… I don't particularly like Snickers bars, but I love their commercials! XD Please read and review! Sorry I haven't updated in a while!

* * *

**21. Another Unfortunate Side Effect of Hunger and the Quest to Hiei's House

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**

It was Saturday morning, and Kuwabara was sitting around the house, thinking about his romantically challenged life. Things with Yukina didn't work out. The thought of him going out with Botan drove the girl to nearly kill herself, and Keiko just beat him up when he asked her out. He sighed. Maybe he really was hopeless…

Shizuru came downstairs, still in her pajamas and turned on the TV. A show about flesh-eating sea monsters was on, and she changed the channel, turning to a cartoon about talking monkeys.

Kuwabara looked at his sister with a new kind of interest. A very different feeling suddenly came over him… Without even thinking, he leaned over and touched Shizuru's shoulder.

Shizuru turned around and stared at her brother, a cigarette hanging from her lips. His awkward, squashed face gazed romantically at her. Shizuru narrowed her eyes… What was he up to?

"Will you go out with me?" he asked, a sappy look on his face.

Shizuru backed up, her eyes widening. The cigarette fell out of her mouth as she leapt off the couch and started walking toward the kitchen. Kuwabara stayed on the couch, his upper body suspended in midair where he had hung in front of Shizuru.

Shizuru unplugged the toaster from the wall and carried it back into the living room. Kuwabara was still on the couch, awaiting an answer from his enraged sister.

He got his answer in due time. Shizuru lifted the toaster high above her head and brought it crashing down on Kuwabara's. There was a sickening crunch as the toaster made contact with his skull and a crash as Kuwabara fell to the floor facefirst. Shizuru lifted the toaster back up again and started repeatedly bashing him on the head and wherever else on his body she could think of.

After about five minutes of severe toaster-beating, Shizuru stopped. She set the toaster on the couch and put her hands on her hips. "Does that answer your question?" she asked coldly.

"Yes, ma'am…" said Kuwabara from on the ground.

Just then, a commercial for Snickers came on the television. The man advertising them had acted out a scene where he tried to get a date with an elderly woman. Another voice said, "Impaired Judgment: Another Unfortunate Side Effect of Hunger."

Shizuru scoffed. "I'll say… impaired judgment… The nerve of Kazuma!" She walked upstairs to her room so she could change clothes. She was going to see Hiei. She had to tell him NOW that she loved him. She didn't think she could handle another strange, romantic mishap like what just happened…

Changing into a pair of green cargo pants and a burgundy T-shirt, Shizuru walked out of the house, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

"Kazuma? What's going on in there?" Kuwabara's mother peeked into the living room on her out of the house to go to work. "Why is the toaster on the couch?"

Little white stars were flashing before Kuwabara's eyes, and his brain was even more jumbled than usual. With slurred speech, Kuwabara answered, "I'm making toast for the squirrels…"

* * *

Shizuru stormed out of the house, her sandals clacking angrily on the sidewalk. She looked around the dirty city street. She then realized that she had no idea where Hiei lived… She cursed under her breath. "Great…" she sighed.

Just then, Luna Minamino and her friend were walking down the opposite side of the street, talking loudly and giggling. _Kurama hangs out a lot with Hiei, and since Luna's related to Kurama, she might know where he lives!_ Shizuru thought suddenly and ran over to the other side of the street.

"Luna! Hey!"

Luna and her friend turned around and saw Shizuru running at them. "Hi, Shizuru," Luna said, waving.

"Do you know where Hiei lives?" Shizuru asked, getting right to the point.

"Uh… wait a second, yeah, I do!" Luna said. "I had to go over there once and sell him Girl Scout cookies."

"Can you please take me there?"

"Sure! Follow me!"

Shizuru followed Luna and her friend as they walked nearly halfway across the city. They had entered the rural part of town where very few houses were built and there was almost nothing there except for a big green field. Toward the end of the field was an old, large tree.

Luna led her to the tree. The tree, at first glance, looked totally unremarkable, but once they got closer, Shizuru noticed that there was a small, Hiei-sized door carved from the bark. _Nice house…_ Shizuru scoffed bemusedly. She didn't know how anyone could live in a tree…

Luna put her fist to the door and knocked loudly three times. "Who's there?" a deep voice that didn't sound like Hiei's asked.

"It's me, Shizuru," Shizuru said, calling over Luna's shoulder.

"Uh… come in…" said the voice.

Luna and her friend backed away and left Shizuru standing by the door. Shizuru hesitantly opened the door and gasped at the sight in front of her. "What in the world…?"

* * *

NEXT TIME: THE KITSUNE RETURNS AND TRUTH OR DARE!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Red Kitsune Flames**: You really didn't see that it was Genkai? I thought the pink hair would give it all away… heh heh. Yeah, I know, that is one of my story's flaws (among others). I wrote this before I watched the end of the Dark Tournament saga, so that's why Genkai was a bit out-of-character. And when I edited this, I had no idea how to change that without warping the entire story. Or maybe I'm just lazy. Heh, I was kinda hoping nobody would notice… :-P Oh well. Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: To answer your question as to why Genkai would do something so stupid: Yay for OOC-ness:sweatdrop: Only explanation I can give… Lol, well thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Well, she caused her fair share of trouble. n.n But there's plenty more trouble to come, so don't worry about that! The Hiei Saga begins next chapter, so stay tuned to hear more about his interesting life! Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: Trust me, I've written more disgusting things, but yeah, the whole Genkai plot twist was just totally random, and it had almost no point at all. Thanks for the review!

**paisley**: I'm surprised a lot of people didn't see it coming either. I thought it was SOOO obvious! O.o But I always think that, because I'm the author… heh. It makes me happy though that I surprise my readers. Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: I'll take the compliment on plot twists. n.n Usually it's just a totally random, completely pointless twist, and I just try to work around it… O.o Ah well. Thanks for the review!

**Youko Kitsune's Girl**: I know, poor Yusuke. Poor OOC Genkai, because she would never kiss Yusuke… Oh well. Man, isn't fanfiction great, these people can do anything… ha ha. Thanks for the review!

**blue kitsune251**: Well maybe you can guess what's happening next chapter. ;) Thanks for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Thanks for witholding the spoiler. I still have yet to see all the YYH episodes (I'm waiting for my next chance to go to Best Buy and buy DVD #28. That's how far behind I am. T.T). But I know that Genkai is OOC, and that's because I wrote this before I even saw the end of the Dark Tournament. Glad you enjoyed it anyway! Thanks for the review!

**RoseAngeI**: Well thanks for finally writing a review! They make me happy. :D :D :D Thanks again!

**hieifan123:** Lol, that's okay, you're not the only one who didn't figure out who Spritzy really was. I'm surprised; I thought the pink hair would totally give it away… Oh well. More points for me on the Suspense Meter. XD I'm glad I can entertain! Thanks for the review!

**Takara Taji**: Yeah, I know, Genkai is WAY-OOC. But! I have an excuse (a bad one, but an excuse nonetheless)! I wrote this story before I saw the end of the Dark Tournament, so I didn't really know how Genkai would act (I was still new to the series). And that's my awesome excuse. Thanks for the review!

**Jillian Jiggs**: Really? Best you've ever read? I'm flattered. n.n :blush: Heh heh, I'm glad you like the whole "Everyone loves someone" thing. I know some people find that annoying, but personally, I love pairing up everyone… It's fun. XD Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune Chic**: Hee hee, tormenting the Idiot Duo (Yusuke and Kuwabara) is always fun. n.n Sorry I didn't catch the time typo. I thought I was doing a good job of editing this… :grumbles: Oh well. We all make mistakes… heh. Thanks for the review and the immortal words!

**Moomoogirl1**: I never forget reviewers. They are all special to me. :big, cheesy grin: I'm glad I could make you laugh! Thanks for the review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	22. The Kitsune Returns and Truth or Dare

A/N: Prepare yourselves! OOC!Hiei and… wtf-ness! REALLY SHORT CHAPTER! Enjoy…? Review!

PS – For those of you keeping track of my personal life, I finally got a job. I work at the library now. Yay for me! Money is good. n.n

* * *

**22. The Kitsune Returns and Truth or Dare

* * *

**

The inside of the tree house was covered in plants. There were green plants, blue plants, purple plants, and pink plants with silver spots. There were some shrubs with long tentacles sprouting from it, and there were plants with teeth. A fox demon was sitting on the ground where a thick, vine-like plant was covering a chair. Shizuru looked to her left and saw a large plant with a mouth-like structure in the middle of it. Something was caught in the mouth, and it looked suspiciously like Hiei…

"What… is going on here…?" Shizuru asked slowly.

The fox demon replied, "Having a party."

Shizuru looked over at the plant with Hiei caught in it and asked, "What is Hiei doing?"

The fox demon smiled. "We were playing truth or dare, so I dared him to make out with the plant and he got his head stuck in it."

Shizuru nodded, her eyebrows raised dangerously high. "I see…" she said. "And you're Youko Kurama right?" she asked, nodding at the fox demon. "That Spirit Fox thing from the Dark Tournament?"

"That's me," said Youko.

"Where's the normal Kurama?" Shizuru asked.

"He's… temporarily unavailable…" Youko said, smirking.

At that moment, Hiei finally unstuck his head from the plant. The plant growled ferociously, and it drooled on the floor. Hiei wiped the plant's saliva from his face and turned to look at Shizuru. Caught by surprise, he blushed.

"What are you doing here?" he asked demandingly.

"Uh… well…" Shizuru remembered why she had come there - to tell Hiei that she loved him. Casting a sideways glance at Youko Kurama, she stumbled, "Um…"; she didn't want to tell Hiei how she felt with him watching… "Um…"

"What is it?" Hiei asked, slightly agitated.

Shizuru changed the subject. "Why is Kurama in his Youko form?"

Hiei stared awkwardly at Shizuru. She was avoiding his question… _I wonder what she really came here for… _he thought.

"Remember the other day when Genkai transformed at school?" Youko asked.

Shizuru nodded.

"Well, she had taken a potion to make her young for a week, and Hiei somehow got his hands on it and gave it to me. Since Youko is Suichi's 'younger' form, I am him for now," Youko said.

"For how long?" asked Shizuru.

"I don't know," said Youko. "Couple days maybe. There wasn't much left in the potion when Hiei gave it to me."

Shizuru turned to Hiei. "Why'd you give him the potion in the first place?" she asked.

"I wanted to see what it would do."

"So you gave it to Kurama."

"…Yeah…"

"You should've given it to Kazuma. Then maybe he could've reverted back to being nonexistent and I could be left alone from the bumbling airhead." Shizuru was still fuming from earlier that morning.

Hiei facefaulted. _Why didn't I think of that?_

Youko Kurama interrupted. "While you're here, do you want to play Truth or Dare with us?"

Shizuru hesitated. She really didn't want to get her head stuck in a plant like Hiei did… She would just stick to truth. "Sure," she answered.

"So… truth or dare?" Hiei asked, frowning at how easily he had been convinced to play such a stupid ningen game with Youko Kurama.

"Truth," Shizuru answered.

"Who do you love?" _What an odd question… Why the hell do I care…?_

Shizuru froze. Her heart suddenly sped up and felt like it was going to jump out of her chest. Both boys were staring intently at her, not wanting to miss the ultimate confession. Beads of sweat trickled down the sides of Shizuru's face. Her palms began sweating and shaking as she thought about just ditching the two of them. Telling Hiei she loved him with only him around to listen would be bad enough, but having Youko Kurama listen in as well? What if he told everyone? Youko was a thief and had a bad record in the Makai…. Could he be trusted? She looked at the fox demon's face. Youko was so poker-faced; she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Could she tell them?

_Just do it and get it over with,_ she thought. She took a deep breath, stared Hiei in the eye and answered, "You, Hiei."

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NEXT TIME: CONFESSION AFTERMATH AND TRUTH!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Hiei in a tree random? Seriously, I thought that was the norm for Hiei's dwelling places… Where the hell DOES he go every night, anyway? Ah well! Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: And that was not my last cliffhanger. There will be more. That's funny, your boyfriend has to compete… I'm still pleasantly single, and making my bishies compete with each other… XP If a YYH character were real and I could meet him, I would pick Kurama! I love him! Or maybe Yusuke… He would fit better with my personality (Kurama would probably be really freaked out if I told him what kind of fanfics I've written in the past…) Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Well, it's never mentioned, but when Hiei's treehouse is not covered in Youko Kurama's plants, it is mostly bare. It has a wooden bed, a wooden table, and a small, college-dorm-sized refrigerator with acorns in it. n.n Lmao, thousands of pictures of Yukina in there… That's like… creepy incest stalking! Then again… that would make a good fanfic… Don't give me bad ideas! Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: You know, I never thought of Shizuru having to get through the Hiei-sized door… Hmm, I suppose she would have to crawl… Or duck or something… Good question! Thanks for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Poor, desparate Kuwabara… I feel bad for him. I'm so cruel to him in my fics… :sigh: Oh well. Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune of Darkness**: I've always loved toasters as kitchen appliances, and Shizuru beating on her brother with one was too good an opportunity to pass up. Then again, I am also fond of microwaves and coffee makers… n.n Thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: That's okay. I don't know many supporters of the Hiei x Shizuru relationship anyway… I'm so alone in that world… T.T Oh well. Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Well then I hope you enjoyed the random Youko Kurama plot twist thrown in. I love that fox, he just had to make a cameo… Yay for the new marker! n.n And of course I love long reviews – they're my favorite. Unless they're those long reviews that say "suck suck suck suck suck flame flame flame" for about five and a half pages… :sigh: Thanks for the review!

**hieifan123**: I know, I'm sorry, all of these chapters are painfully short. T.T Forgive me? I was young back when I wrote this – not at all the slightly-more-educated-yet-equally-naïve child I am now… /drama I had fun having Shizuru beat her brother with a toaster. :D Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune Chic**: I'm honored to go on a favorite quotes list and be used as immortal words:gives long speech about: And I'd like to thank my mom, my dad, my stuffed platypus… XD Thanks for the review!

**RoseAngeI**: Did this count as having Kurama in it? I love Kurama too. He's my favorite main character. n.n I wuvles him. Thanks for the review!

**Takara Taji**: Making excuses is a skill that has been passed down the crazykitsune line for generations… whoops, wrong show:sweatdrop: Lol, I love cliffies too. They are my friends… unless other people write them, exactly. Aww, I wish I had been a hardcore yaoi fan when I wrote this, otherwise I would've paired up Kuwabara with a dude… Damn… lol, well, thanks for the review!

**Moomoogirl1**: Thanks for the review!

**heartluv**: I know, poor Kuwabara, so unloved… :moment of silence:moment of silence over: But I'm not him, so, lucky me… Or unlucky… :glances at phone warily, praying it doesn't ring…: Long story there… O.o; Anyway, thanks for the review! Hope you had fun on your vacation!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	23. Confession Aftermath and Truth

A/N: Sorry, I am too tired to do reviewer responses tonight, but please enjoy the chapter despite the flaw that Yukina somehow got an apartment… Don't ask how or why or anything of the like because I don't know. ;) Review and you'll get responses next time! Sorry I took so long; school and work take up a lot of time…

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**23. Confession Aftermath and Truth

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**

There was a moment's pause after Shizuru had just told them both that she loved Hiei. The silence was unnerving… Shizuru's face was beet red. _What are they thinking? _she wondered. _Do they think I'm weird? Now they both know! Oh, Shizuru, why did you have to tell?_

The silence was broken by a soft chuckling noise. Shizuru and Hiei looked over to see Youko Kurama, shoulders shaking with silent laughter. Shizuru's face became, if possible, even redder as Youko began to laugh harder. Hiei's face was getting a little crimson as well, but Shizuru didn't notice. She was transfixed in horror at the loud laughing from the spirit fox.

Youko fell over, holding his stomach and howling with laughter. He couldn't believe it! Shizuru, of all people, was in love with Hiei! How could anyone _not_ laugh?

Shizuru stood up. She'd had enough. She turned around and walked straight out the door, not saying a word to either of them. Once she had slammed the door behind her, she broke into an all-out run and hurried away, wanting to get as far as possible from the house. _That stupid fox! _she thought angrily, tears of embarrassment, frustration, and anger running down her face. _I knew I shouldn't have told them! I should've just left! They obviously are too immature to handle any kind of love confession! _She was going to run into the next town and stay there for the night. That was her plan - to run away and not come back for a long time. She didn't think she could handle going back… not so soon, anyway… She didn't know what she'd do if she ever saw Hiei again…

* * *

Hiei grew angry as he glared at Youko, still on the floor laughing. His face grew even hotter with all the anger at his fox friend. Youko finally calmed down for a second, and that's when Hiei took the chance to yell at him.

He stood up, walked over to the fox demon, and pulled him up by his shoulders. He growled at Youko, then said, "I can't believe you are so heartless!" Youko looked taken aback. He had expected Hiei to laugh with him, not get angry and yell at him. He stopped laughing.

"I actually _liked_ Shizuru, okay! She was the one human girl I didn't want to destroy!" Hiei shouted, shoving Youko back. "I'll bet that took guts to say that she liked me to my face, and you had to ruin it and laugh! You scared her away, baka kitsune!" Hiei turned away huffily, the color rising in his cheeks again. "I can't believe you…" he growled as he stormed out of the house, slamming the door behind him.

* * *

"Damn that Youko," Hiei mumbled as he walked quickly out of his treehouse and looked around for any sign of where Shizuru had gone. He didn't see any trace of her. He sighed. Shizuru probably didn't want to talk to him anyway. _I bet she thought I was with Youko on this one and thought she was a freak for liking me…_ he thought miserably_. But that's not true… I love her too…_

Hiei looked up at the sky. There was hardly a cloud in the sky, and a few birds circled around the sun. He saw the birds, and his mind jumped to Yukina. _Yukina… I have to tell her…_ He set off for Yukina's house.

* * *

Hiei knocked lightly on the door of Yukina's apartment. He hoped she was home; he didn't think he could put this off any longer. He had to tell her NOW that he was her brother… He just wondered how she would take it…

Yukina opened the door and smiled when she saw Hiei standing there. "Oh, hi, Hiei!" she exclaimed, ushering him into the apartment. "I was just thinking about you!"

"I'm honored," Hiei said stiffly. He decided he should just get right to the point. "Listen, Yukina, I have something very important to tell you…"

Yukina leaned closer to Hiei, her eyes wide and bright with attention. "I'm listening…"

Hiei took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yukina… we can't continue our… relationship."

Yukina inhaled sharply as her eyes began to fill up with tears. "Wh-what?"

"You heard me," Hiei said firmly. "We can't do this anymore."

"But… why not?"

"Yukina…" Hiei's eyes shifted away from his sister's upset face. "Yukina, I can't love you. Not in this way."

"What are you talking about?" Yukina asked. "It's not… it's not another woman, is it?"

Hiei still avoided Yukina's eyes and hesitated. "Actually…"

Yukina choked on a sob. "But, Hiei…"

"There's another reason," he said, bringing his head back up to look Yukina in the eye. "I can't love you because… I'm your brother."

Yukina froze. The tears suddenly stopped sliding down her cheeks. She blinked a couple times and stepped back. "Excuse me?"

"I'm your brother, Yukina," Hiei repeated.

Yukina felt like a giant piece of lead had dropped in her stomach. Hiei was her brother… her long-lost brother that she had been searching for… It was him all along… And she had fallen in love with him. She didn't know what to think. She turned around and sank onto her bed, putting her face in her hands and sobbed.

Hiei watched her cry for a moment. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to say. What do you say to a person who loved you and then found out that you were her brother? How do you deal with that kind of situation? Hiei was getting extremely uncomfortable being in the room with her, when she suddenly shouted, "Go! Just go! Leave me alone, Hiei! Go!"

Half relieved and half scared, Hiei left the apartment, closing the door carefully behind him. He could still hear Yukina's sobs through the thin walls. Staring at his shoes and sighing, he said to himself, "That could've gone better…"

* * *

NEXT TIME – YOUKO'S PROBLEM AND OPERATION FOX!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	24. Youko's Problem and Operation FOX

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long. School and work keeps me quite busy, so you should probably only expect updates on the weekends. : ( Sorry about that! Anyway, this is a really short chapter, and my fancharacter/Mary-Sue girl Luna appears in here a bit. Ignore her. She's annoying. -.- Please review!

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**24. Youko's Problem and Operation FOX

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**

Youko walked out of Hiei's treehouse and headed back toward Suichi's. He didn't care that he was walking around with fox ears and a tail in the middle of a crowded city. He had never seen Hiei get that angry… at him. He was kind of upset, but not really. He snorted. _Love. Never thought Hiei would succumb to that…_ Youko kicked a pebble in the sidewalk and sighed.

He reached Suichi's house without too many strange stares from passersby, and he opened the door. Luna was sitting at the kitchen table scribbling madly on a piece of notebook paper. She had a few books open in front of her and couple notebooks spread around the table. Youko stared at the mess of notebooks and paper, but didn't say anything.

"Mom's gonna be out of town for a few days," Luna said without looking up from her paper. "Business trip."

Youko grunted in reply, heading upstairs to Suichi's room.

Luna let her writing hand rest for a while and looked up. With a small gasp of surprise she said, "Oh! It's you, Youko. What are you doing in your fox form?"

Youko sighed and told her how Hiei had given him that potion that Genkai had taken a while ago. Luna narrowed her eyebrows. "I heard about Genkai. I still don't believe she would take a potion like that. I thought she didn't care about being young as long as she could still kick ass," she said.

Youko snorted. "You don't know the old lady. I'll bet she enjoyed screwing up everyone's lives and causing all that trouble," he replied.

Luna sighed. "I guess so…" Her eyes brightened. "Hey, how long are you going to be in your Youko form?"

"I dunno… couple days…?"

Luna squealed in delight. "Oh, this is gonna be fun!" she said.

"What's going to be fun?" Youko asked, though he wasn't sure if he really wanted to know.

"We can't have you walking around the city like that!" Luna said. "People might say things about… about the ears, and the tail…"

"I like my ears and tail, and I'm keeping them."

"That's not what I mean!" Luna said. "Let me finish. Anyway, people might say things about how you look—you know, people around here aren't used to seeing demons everyday—and so I could disguise you so that you look like Suichi!" Luna clapped her hands together happily. "Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No," Youko said flatly. "I'd rather sit in quicksand trying to scratch my ass than let you play 'dress up' with me."

Luna ignored his comment and went on. "We could dress you up, and so nobody knows what we're talking about, we could call this…" She paused for suspense. "…Operation FOX."

Youko wasn't amused. "That sounds like a lot of fun, but… no."

"…the FOX stands for Freaky Obese Xylophones," Luna said, her eyes sparkling. "We could be the FOX team! Yeah! That sounds cool… and then I can make jackets and hats with our logo and everything…"

Youko sighed. There was no point in telling Suichi's sister he wasn't interested in becoming the youkai version of a barbie.

"There's a costume shop a couple miles from here," Luna said. "I'm gonna go out and grab some supplies. I'll be right back, and then we can start… Operation FOX…" She stood up from the table and exited the house the back way. Youko watched as she left and waited until she was out of eyesight when he left the house as well.

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NEXT TIME: THE HARRASSED ORANGUTAN AND YUSUKE'S DRUKEN MOTHER!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Hieifan123**: Whew, I'm glad I won't be getting any angry "UPDATE DAMN U U SUK IF U DU KNOT UPDATEE!one!7"-ness from you. n.n; I like the Hiei x Shizuru pairing. We'll all just have to see if Hiei tells her! Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: O.o; Umm… I'm sorry for making you cry:sweatdrop: Heh heh. Well, thanks for the review; glad you lurve it!

**darklight4ever**: I think you misread my chapter summary. It said "Ch. 23 of 33", meaning I have 33 chapters total, and I've uploaded 23 (24 with this one). Sorry if I confused you, but I checked to make sure I didn't make a typo, and it's correct. Thanks for the review!

**paisley**: I probably would've laughed too. I laugh at everything. Especially since my friend at school is always pointing at random stuff and just bursting out laughing… She points at this kid in my English class and starts laughing her head off, and it makes me laugh too… hee hee. Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**: Well now that things are coming together in the fic, it's harder to fool people. n.n Yeah, Yukina's got it tough. I don't know why, but I always seem to torture poor Yukina like that. I've written at least 4 fics where Yukina's depressed… o.O; Thanks for the review, you'll have to wait and see if your guess is right!

**Takara Taji**: I'm sorry, but now the updates are going to be even scarcer! T.T I'm so busy nowadays (but I like it that way). I'm glad you like the Hiei x Shizuru pairing. If Hiei has to be straight, Shizuru is the only one I can see him with. Well, okay, the disgusting side of me can't help but kinda like Yukina x Hiei incest, but… that doesn't count. The stalker girl comes back… I think chapter after next, but she'll come around, don't worry! Thanks for the review!

**And I Promise.**: Thank you, I'm glad you like this story! Stalking bishies be fun. n.n I know where this guy at school (just friends since he's taken T.T Too bad! He's pretty!) lives, and now I can stalk him too… XDXD Ooh, I don't know how some of you people can sit and read 20-some chapters all in a row from a fic that's already started. I like starting at the beginning, but that's just me. n.n Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune of Darkness**: Funny bully… that's an amusing choice of words. ;) We'll just have to wait and see what happens between Shizuru and Hiei and Yukina. O.o o.O Thanks for the understanding about my updates! It's these reviewer responses that take up so much time here for me because I already have the story all pre-written (I just edit it for spelling/grammar and a little bit of content). Thanks for the review!

**Fruit is NOT a Dessert**: Genkai, I think, just kinda disappeared off the face of this fic. She was just kinda thrown in there for my own amusement… / As for the guys she kissed, it was only Kurama and Hiei and Yusuke, I'm pretty sure, and they're all mentioned around, so you'll just have to see. Yes, I do have all 33 chapters written out, I just edit a bit and add reviewer responses. Thanks for the review!

**RoseAngeI**: Yes, Youko's a meanie. XP We'll just have to see what happens to him… Thanks for the review!

**Moomoogirl1**: Poor everybody in this fic. There's so much drama:le gasp: I am enjoying my job. But I'm tired when I get home… I'm on my feet the entire time, and wearing boots to that kind of job… oww… feet… hurt… badly… :cringes: And now I have this huge bruise on my hip, and I have no idea why:sweatdrop: lol well thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Yeah, I don't know why Yukina has an apartment either. I guess it was just easier for me to stick her in one… :sweatdrop: Ah well. Thanks for the review! Don't hit Youko-chan too hard!

**heartluv**: Yeah, I really don't know how Youko conned Hiei into playing Truth or Dare. I don't know why Youko would want to play Truth or Dare either… The mental image was what that was all about, I guess… Hmm… Well anyway, thanks for the review! Glad you enjoyed your vacation!

**Red Kitsune Flames, AngelFire3691, Deus X Machina, Betabonanza, **and **Kurapika12, **Thank you all for reviewing!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	25. The Harrassed Orangutan

A/N: D00ds… freaking finally I update. Sorry for the wait – homecoming week was such a hassle (that was last week) and now this week, my friends and I had a fight, and… it's not quite over yet (almost, but there's still one missing piece to the puzzle if you know what I mean), so I've been having a bit of a stressful September! I'm so sorry for not updating! That's why you're getting THREE new chapters today. Please review!

Oh yeah, and if anybody wants to know where the bar's name came from, I copied it from Family Guy's the "Drunken Clam" and changed the adjective and animal. ;)

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**25. The Harrassed Orangutan and Yusuke's Drunken Mother

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**

Youko had left Suichi's house to go down to the local bar shortly after Luna left. He needed a drink. He didn't want to go back and have Luna play with him and put him in costumes when he was sober.

Once again, he didn't care who saw him as a fox demon; he just went down to the bar, walked in, and sat down on one of the stools. The neon orange logo of the bar's name, The Harrassed Orangutan, buzzed overhead. The old cuckoo clock above the bartender's head clucked six times. Youko sat down between a drunken young woman who looked ready to pass out any second, and another young woman, obviously not drunk, but smoking a cigarette, blowing puffs of smoke at the bartender's face. The smoking girl looked somehow familiar, but Youko couldn't tell, as he could only see her back.

"What'll ya have?" asked the bartender to Youko.

"Anything," Youko said. "Just pick something."

The bartender nodded, turning his back to the fox demon. Then he did a double-take and noticed that the person he had just taken orders from had ears on top of his head and a long, swishy tail. "Woah…" said the bartender. "Why d'ya have a… funny ears and a tail, eh?"

"I don't," said Youko composedly. "You're just drunk, and you're seeing things."

The bartender seemed to think that was a good response and went back to filling Youko's order.

Upon hearing his voice, the smoking woman turned her head and gasped. "You!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'd like to ask you the same question," Youko said, fixing his steely glare on her soft brown eyes that he recognized as Shizuru's. "Weren't you running away earlier?"

"I got tired of running," Shizuru said coolly. Then her stare hardened. "You're just here to make fun of me for liking Hiei, aren't you?" she accused.

"No," said Youko, taking his drink from the bartender and gulping down half the glass. "No, I came here to get as drunk as I possibly can, puke my guts out, then pass out in a gutter and wake up the next morning with a hangover the size of China."

Shizuru looked down. "Oh," she said.

Just then, the woman on Youko's right leaned over and fell on Youko's shoulder. Her eyes were misted over, and her dark hair was unwashed and smelled funny. She reeked of alcohol, and Youko tried to push her off.

"Hey, cutie," she mumbled, her voice slurred from her intoxication. "Wanna comma ta my house?"

"No," Youko said, pushing her off his shoulder. Shizuru, behind him, stifled a laugh. "What's so funny?" he growled at her.

"Oh, nothing," Shizuru replied, waving her hand dismissively. "That's just Atsuko, Yusuke's mom. Her hobbies include getting drunk and trying to get guys to come home with her."

"Oh."

Yusuke's mother leaned back on Youko's arm, this time drooling a little. "Pleeeease?" she begged.

Youko ignored her. But a few drinks later, the two of them were holding hands and making out with each other. Shizuru, disgusted, got up from her stool and left the Harrassed Orangutan Bar, muttering, "That's just wrong… Disgusting… and wrong…"

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NEXT TIME: OPERATION FOX IN ACTION AND A GIRL-TO-GIRL CONVERSATION!

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**Reviewer Responses!

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**

**Moomoogirl1**: Luna's not crazy, she's stupid because she's a fancharacter. :kicks her: But yeah, her purpose is to be "the annoying, idiotic younger sibling", so… whatever. v.v School freaking abuses me. I've got bruises on my hips, bruises on my shoulders, and bruises all up and down my left leg because I fell… um… "fell" at the homecoming game… lol Thanks for the review!

**hieifan123**: You'll see what Luna comes up with for Youko-chan; that comes up in like… next chapter, I think. n.n Thanks for the review!

**Princess Random**: I'm glad you like Luna. I used to like Luna when I created her, but that was like… 2 years ago, so… heh. Yes, I know this is about Kurama and his stalker. I have a REALLY bad tendency to stray from the point, and it shows in this story. I know his stalker shows up sometime soon, so just hang in there! Thanks for the review!

**And I Promise.**: No, not high. I just have an obsessive love of acronyms. ;) Yeah, a lot of these chapters are like… "blaah, where's the action?" I'm sorry. T.T lol, I only saw the first episode of Naruto, and it was the horribly-mangled Toonami version, and I cried. LOL, you thought the orangutan was Kuwabara too! A lot of people seemed to think that; that's hilarious… Thanks for the review!

**Deus X Machina**: Our stalker friend comes in… meh, soon. v.v I know I'm straying from the point way too much, sorry! Thanks for hanging in there though and reviewing!

**heartluv**: I had fun writing the whole "youkai barbie" phrase. I so wanted to submit that idea to Mattel, but I don't think they know what youkai are. T.T Sad. I really did wanna see a Youko-Ken doll… Thanks for the review!

**SilverKitsuneGrlAngel**: I know, Luna sucks, just ignore her. v.v Thanks for the review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**: Well, don't worry, there's more Youko where this came from! Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune of Darkness**: Comic relief is Purpose # 2 of Luna… Thanks for the review!

**Sami Kurama's Stalker**: Operation FOX needs an abbreviation to make the author happy. The author enjoys acronyms WAY too much… even when they have no point whatsoever. ;) Thanks for the review!

**evilchik**:smirk: You'll just have to wait and see what happens with Youko/Kurama and his stalker… You know I can't tell you. Thanks for the review!

**Takara Taji**: I'm sorry! But I really am busy now that I'm in high school (but I love it there!) and a job, a writer for the school newspaper, part of the set design crew for the school play, and possibly a member of student council (elections are next week). SORRY TO KEEP YOU WAITING! Forgive me! T.T I'm sorry about all the short chapters. This story is full of them, because this is one of my first pieces of writing (at least fanfiction), so I kinda had no clue what was considered "good" for chapters. But I'll post about 3 new chapters every weekend to make up for it, how's that? Thanks for the review!

**Kitsune Chic**: How do I come up with this stuff? My brain is a little bit twisted. Not quite sure what happened to me as a child, but meh. We'll leave that to the psychologists to figure out. n.nv That's neat that you made blankets for the Katrina victims – good for you! I just donated like… $10… Thanks for the review!

**fallentears666**: Well, I'm not home by 9, more like 7:30 (since I'm too young to work until 9 n.n), but yeah, homework takes me about an hour, depending on if I feel like doing it or not, then I gotta eat, and then I go on AIM because I'm a stupid AIM junkie now. x( Anyway, thanks for the review!

**Betabonanza**: Sorry, I'm not sure when Hiei shows up next! Please be patient and thanks for the review!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	26. Operation FOX in Action

A/N: Longer chapter! Yay! Anyway… I think you guys will like this chapter. Please review!

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**26. Operation FOX in Action and a Girl-to-Girl Conversation

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**

The next day, Youko awoke in Suichi's bedroom to find that Luna was standing over him, holding something behind her back. The expression on her face was something between a grin and a look of disapproval.

"Wakey wakey," she said sweetly, whacking Youko over the head with a pillow.

"What?" Youko moaned, rolling over. "Go away…"

Luna ignored him. "I found a costume that you could wear," she said brightly, holding up the thing behind her back. It was Suichi's school uniform, only in a bigger size with a nametag that said "Suichi Minamino" on it in messy handwriting. She also held a bottle of red spray-on hair dye and a box of green-eyed contacts.

Youko stared at her. "Not your stupid 'Operation FOX' thing again…" he started.

"Yep!" said Luna. "I just wanna see how this stuff looks on you. I wasn't sure what size you wore, so I got the biggest size uniform."

"Thanks," Youko said dryly. "But what's with the nametag…?"

"It's so people know it's Suichi!"

"But wouldn't it be a little obvious that I'm _not_ Suichi if I have a nametag saying that I am?" Youko asked, wondering how he could think so logically when he was still hung over from last night.

"No," said Luna. "Half of the people at your school barely have enough brains to fill up a can of tuna. Just look at Yusuke and Kuwabara… How they got into that school is anybody's guess…"

"I'm still not saying I'm going to wear that," Youko said. "Now leave me alone!"

"Don't think so!" said Luna. "This is your punishment for running out on me to go get drunk at that tacky bar! It wasn't fun dragging your half-conscious body back to our house! Now get up and try on this uniform!"

Minutes later, Youko emerged from the bedroom to show Luna how he looked in the uniform. He looked absolutely ridiculous; it turned out that Luna had bought the uniform one size too big, so it was baggy on him, except in the back where he had to stuff in his tail to keep it from showing. The tail puffed out like some obscene growth on Youko's backside. Luna, however, thought it looked fine…

"It looks great!" she said. "Now we just have to fix your hair…" She reached for the spray-on hair dye and ushered him into the bathroom.

* * *

When she was done, Youko's hair didn't even look all that red. It was more of a sickly orange color; he looked like a long-haired Kuwabara. Youko looked at himself in the mirror and had to resist the urge to break it. "Luna… I look like shit," he said bluntly.

"Nonsense!" said Luna, crossing her fingers behind her back. "You look just like Suichi! Now all you have to do is put in these green contacts. Ever put contacts in before?"

Youko shook his head no. Luna tried to teach him, but it still took Youko over an hour to get them in. He kept poking himself in the eye with his claws. But eventually, he got them in. Luna admired how he looked for a moment, then spotted something out of the corner of her eye.

It was Kurama's stalker friend, wearing her full costume and walking straight toward the house! Luna gasped; what was she going to tell her? She knew who the stalker was, but she didn't know if she had ever seen Kurama in his Youko form. She shoved Youko into Suichi's room and told him to stay there while she made up a story to send the stalker away.

The doorbell rang. Luna ran to answer it, pulling open the door and putting on a big, fakey smile. "Hi," she greeted the stalker.

"Hey, Luna," the stalker said. "Is Suichi home?"

Luna's eyes shifted away as she replied, "Uh… he's um… he's um… he's sick." She turned back to the stalker. "Very sick. Highly contagious. Nobody can see him."

"Oh no," said the stalker, her eyes turning to a look of concern. "Is he okay?" she asked.

"Oh, he will be in… a couple days…" Luna said, scratching the back of her neck nervously.

"Maybe I should go up there… cheer him up…" said the stalker.

"N-no!" said Luna, putting her arms out to block the doorway. "Uh… we don't want you to get sick either! Heh heh…"

"Oh, I don't mind," said the stalker. "If he's not feeling well, I'd like to see him. You know, my mom has a great remedy for all kinds of ailments. Maybe I could--"

"No, no, that's quite all right," said Luna. Then, as a desperate attempt to shoo her away, she said, "Listen, there's this shirt at the mall downtown that Suichi really wants. It's a red T-shirt with the Sailor Moon characters on it, and it says, "Girl Power" on it. If you went out and bought it, that would really make him happy."

"Okay!" The stalker's face brightened. "Well, I'll be off. Tell him I said 'hi', okay?" She turned around and ran in the direction of the mall.

"Whew," said Luna, closing the door. "That was close…"

* * *

Many hours later, Kurama's stalker returned, ringing the doorbell at the Minamino household. Luna opened the door; Youko was still in Suichi's room, trying to sleep away his hangover. Luna gasped in surprise as the girl held up the shirt that Luna had described.

"I had to go all the way to Yokohama to find it," the stalker said. "The guy at the store said they didn't carry any shirts like that, but I finally found one!" She held up the shirt, and sure enough, it was a red T-shirt with Sailor Moon characters on it with the words "Girl Power!" splashed across it in big white bubble-kanji. "It was hard to find one that wasn't form-fitting," she said with a smile. "But I got it!"

At first Luna was dumbfounded, then she had to turn away to keep herself from laughing. She thought that his stalker would never be able to find a shirt like that! She turned back to the girl. "Wow," she said. "I'm impressed. Suichi will be… happy…" She giggled.

"Well, I'm glad," she said, her eyes twinkling with a smile. "Can I go up and give this to him?"

"Uh…"

But at that moment, Youko came the stairs, a glazed look in his new green eyes. The stalker's head tilted to one side as she stared at Youko.

Youko scratched his left ear and yawned. "Hey, Luna, make me something for dinner. I'm hungry."

Luna turned around and nearly shrieked in surprise. "Oh! Uh… hey… Suichi… Glad you're feeling better!" She laughed nervously, a large sweatdrop running down the side of her face.

"Uh…" the stalker mumbled, "I think that disease he has is worse than I thought. Here, Luna, you can give this to him." She handed Luna the Sailor Moon T-shirt and walked out of the house.

"Who was that?" Youko asked.

"Youko!" Luna hissed. "Why did you come down! Didn't you hear the doorbell ring?"

"No," he said. "And I came down because I was hungry."

Luna sighed in frustration. "You are such a stupid fox! And you didn't even come down wearing that hat I bought you to cover up your ears!"

Youko frowned, remembering the hideous pink baseball cap that Luna had bought to disguise his ears. "Oh… that…" he said. "Well… I wasn't thinking."

"Obviously!" Luna shouted. "Now because you've been a naughty little fox, I'm not going to make you anything for supper." She turned away, folding her arms across her chest.

Youko grumbled, rummaging through the closet and finding a box of Ritz crackers. "Fine," he said, grabbing a handful of the small, salty crackers and stuffing them in his mouth. "But if I die of hunger, it'll be on your conscience."

* * *

The stalker walked down the street back to her house, wondering, _That wasn't… Youko Kurama… that I just saw in there… was it…?

* * *

_

Later that night, Keiko sat in her house, flipping through the TV channels, trying to find something interesting to fall asleep to. She landed on a documentary about blueberry pancakes and felt her eyelids getting heavy when the doorbell rang.

It was Botan, a small, nervous smile on her face. "Hi," she said. "I'm sorry I came here so late, but I was busy putting stamps on all of Koenma's outgoing messages."

"That's fine," said Keiko. "Come on in."

Botan nodded, slipping off her shoes and walking into the house. She followed Keiko to the living room couch, eyeing the chef mixing pancake batter in a bowl on TV. She sat down but didn't say anything.

"What is it?" Keiko asked her. "You look tense."

"I'm sorry," said Botan. "But… I know this is a really insensitive question for me to ask you, seeing as how you and Yusuke just broke up… but…"

"Go on."

"But…" Botan's eyes avoided Keiko's. "But… well… I really like Yusuke, and I was wondering, if that's all right with you, if we went to a movie together as a date," she said all in a rush.

"Oh…" Keiko said. She had not been expecting this… "Yeah… uh… go ahead. I don't love Yusuke anymore anyway… I… I already like someone else…"

"Ooh, you do?" Botan asked, her face lighting up in a nosy smile. "Who?"

"Oh… I… I like… I kinda like Hiei…" Keiko said, bringing her head down to stare at the carpet. "He's a nice guy…"

Botan covered her mouth to keep from spilling out that Shizuru likes him too and that she's got competition, but she remembered that she told Shizuru that she wouldn't tell. She took her hand away and said, "Well, I'm glad you're over Yusuke. Hiei's a good guy, I'm sure you'd be great together!" She stood up. "Well, sorry for bothering you, thanks for your time, see you later, Keiko!" she quickly walked out of the house to prevent herself from spilling Shizuru's secret that she wanted so badly to tell.

_So Keiko likes Hiei now, huh?_ she thought. _Well, that doesn't matter, as long as I get Yusuke…

* * *

_

NEXT TIME: A NEW ROMANCE AND YOUKO'S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	27. A New Romance

A/N: Aww, the end of this chapter just makes me happy. But there's more Youko "action" here, so… enjoy! Please review!

* * *

**27. A New Romance and Youko's First Day of School

* * *

**

The alarm in Suichi's bedroom went off at six o'clock, its persistent buzzing noise bringing Youko from his happy dream of ripping demons to pieces. He opened his eyes and stared at the alarm clock. _How do you make it shut up…?_ he wondered, staring at all of the buttons on it. The buzzing noise grew louder.

Youko's eye twitched as he stared at the clock with extreme dislike. He picked it up and shook it, but that didn't stop its infernal buzzing. He slapped it, but that didn't do anything either. He growled and bared his teeth at it, but the clock wasn't intimidated by that either. It was as if it was mocking him…

Finally, Youko got fed up with the alarm and chucked it out the window where it fell to the ground and busted open, innumerable little clock pieces flying out everywhere. Satisfied, Youko crawled back into bed.

Just as he was about to pull the covers up to his neck, Luna came into the room, still in her pajamas and her hair all messed up. "That wasn't Suichi's alarm clock that I just saw fly out the window, was it?" she asked sternly.

"I don't know what that thing was," Youko said grumpily. "Go away…"

"It's a school day!" Luna said. "You have to keep up Suichi's perfect attendance record and go to school!"

"Why should I have to go if it's _Suichi's _attendance record we're talking about? I'm not Suichi," Youko said.

Luna didn't appreciate his sarcasm. Instead she grabbed his shoulders and dragged him up out of bed. "Put the uniform on," she said. "And… take a shower, please, you smell like a drunk."

* * *

Since Youko had no idea where Black Panda High School was, he rode the bus instead of walking like Suichi normally did. The bus was crowded and packed with younger high school students who couldn't drive yet and a few commuting adults. None of the students on the bus paid much attention to him; maybe they couldn't recognize him in the horrible costume and badly-dyed hair…

Finally, they had reached the school, and Youko stepped onto the front yard of the large high school. He stared around at all of the people outside, chatting animatedly with all their friends. Youko wasn't sure who Suichi hung out with, so he just walked into the building and stood around the hallways, watching the plump principal strut by and the other ugly teachers walk around with their lesson planners in hand. A small, greasy-looking kid ran past with his arms full of papers and a wide grin on his face. _Is this some kind of freak school…?_ Youko wondered. _Where are all the sexy ladies?_

As if to answer his question, a group of senior girls walked by. They were skinny, had long hair, and were very beautiful in their miniskirts and tight T-shirts. Youko wondered vaguely for a moment why Suichi wore a uniform in a public school, but the thought left his mind as he saw one of the girls wink and smile at him. _Suichi must be popular…_ he thought_. Good…

* * *

_

Youko had gotten through the morning classes without too much trouble. He was glad he had some obsessed young sophomore with large glasses happily escort him to all of his classes; he didn't know where the science lab or the music room, or any of the other rooms in the school were. He did find it odd, though, that nobody saw through his disguise. Luna was right; some of the students at Black Panda High were pretty dumb…

* * *

The only people who could see through his disguise were Yusuke and Kuwabara. However, he was sure that Keiko and Botan could see through it as well, but they weren't around at lunch when he met up with his Spirit Detective and Spirit Detective Sidekick friends.

"What's with the crappy disguise, Youko?" Yusuke asked as soon as Youko had sat down. "Why are you Youko anyway?"

Youko sighed and explained to them how Hiei had given him the age-reducing potion, and how that's what Genkai had used to become Spritzy.

"So _that's_ what the old hag was up to…" Yusuke said, rubbing his chin. "Still doesn't explain why she so eagerly made out with me in the movie theater… Gross"

"Maybe she likes you," Youko teased.

"I'm just glad she didn't kiss me," Kuwabara said, digging in to his lunch.

"_Nobody_ in their right mind would ever kiss you," Yusuke said dryly. "No offense, buddy, but… you're no Prince Charming."

"Who says?" said Kuwabara, flexing his muscles. "This is 100 pure beefcake muscle, and it's sexy! Girls love me…" He gloated for a while, letting his ego get the best of him while Yusuke and Youko just stared at him.

* * *

It turned out, however, that Yusuke and Kuwabara were not the only ones who could see through Youko's pitiful disguise. As Youko was packing Suichi's books into his bookbag, somebody approached him from behind.

"Hey," she said, causing Youko to quickly turn around.

"Oh. It's you again," he said, recognizing Suichi's stalker girl from last night. "What do you want?"

The girl got right to the point. "You're not Suichi," she said.

Youko didn't say anything. He wasn't sure whether he should contradict her or agree with her.

"Why are you Youko Kurama?" she asked quietly, making sure nobody could hear her. "When is Suichi going to be back?"

Youko's eyes darted around the empty hallway and saw nobody in sight. "Hiei gave me a potion the other day that would make me younger. Of course I didn't know what it did – stupid thing, really – so I drank it, and it turned me into Youko. And to answer your second question, I'm sure your precious Suichi will be back soon enough." He turned back to his locker and slammed it shut.

"I hope that he'll be bak tomorrow," the girl said, her sad brown eyes staring at the floor. "I miss him…" She turned away and left.

* * *

"Uh… Yusuke…?" Botan said timidly, approaching the Spirit Detective in the empty hallway on the first floor.

"Yeah?" he said, trying to shove something into his already overstuffed locker. Botan looked down and noticed that his bookbag was completely empty; he must never do any schoolwork.

"Um… I've got a question…"

"Shoot."

"What… what do you think of me?" she asked, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers.

Yusuke stared at her. "What do I think of you?" he repeated. "What kind of question is that?"

"I mean like… do you… do you… like me?" she asked. "Not like, LIKE me… maybe… but… you know… LIKE me?"

Yusuke blinked, confused. "Huh?"

"Wh-what I mean to say, is… Do you think… Would you ever consider… um… liking me… um… a lot?"

"I do like you a lot," Yusuke said blankly. "I mean, you're annoying sometimes, but you're cool."

Botan's heart jumped. _He thinks I'm cool_! she thought happily. _That's a start… right? _"Well…" she said. "Would you ever… want to like me… more than a lot?"

"What do you mean?"

_Boy, he's hard to get through to…_ Botan thought with frustration. "I mean like… like… boyfriend and girlfriend…" she said quietly.

"Sorry, I didn't hear that…"

Botan clenched his fists together and grit her teeth. "Would… you… like to be…" her voice trailed off. She took a deep breath and tried again. "Will you go out with me?"

Yusuke looked taken aback. "Is that what you were trying to say?" he asked. "You just want to be my girlfriend?"

Botan nodded, her face turning bright red.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Yusuke said. "See, that's what I don't like about girls. They take forever to get to their point!"

Botan looked down, her eyes sad. "So… it's no, then?"

"Woah, woah, no, I didn't say that!" Yusuke said as a tear slid down Botan's cheek. "No, no, I'll go out with you!"

"Really?" said Botan, wiping her tear away.

"Sure," Yusuke said. "I mean, you're a nice girl… a cute girl…" he added with a smile.

Botan smiled as well. "Oh, Yusuke," she said, flinging her arms around his neck and giving him a tight hug. "Thank you…"

* * *

NEXT TIME: BACK TO NORMAL AND YUKINA'S DEPARTURE!

* * *

--crazykitsune17--


	28. Back to Normal and Yukina's Departure

A/N: Ummm… Okay, I'm not even gonna try to make excuses this time. If you haven't already heard, I had taken a… erm… "vacation"… of sorts… from FFN (and, like, everything else that was fun…), so yeah. The important part is, I'm updating now, so please enjoy! And send a thank you to Animay Onia for encouraging me to keep on updating! Please read and review.

* * *

**28. ****Back to Normal and Yukina's Departure**

* * *

The next morning, a different person woke up in Suichi's bed. It was no longer a poorly-disguised fox demon asleep under the covers, but a beautiful, red-haired young man: the real Suichi.

He rolled over under the covers and opened a tired, leaf-green eye. He noticed that his alarm clock was missing… _Oh no!_ he thought._ I hope I didn't oversleep!_

He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. He noticed that he was wearing his school uniform… but there was something different about it… He stood up, and the size extra-large pants slid right down his waist. _Okay… that's weird… _he thought, pulling them off and standing in the dark room in his boxers. He grabbed his watch from his desk and squinted in the dark to read the time. It was 5:45 in the morning. He groaned. He didn't have to get up for another forty-five minutes! "Oh well," he said to himself. "I might as well try doing the homework that I'm sure Youko didn't do…"

But he found a pleasant surprise when he opened his bookbag and pulled out his textbooks. Opening his science book, he saw a loose leaf sheet of paper with the answers to that day's assignment written on it. Kurama smiled; the lesson they were studying was plants, so of course, Youko knew all of the right answers.

"Actually, I stole the teacher's manual when he wasn't looking," a voice inside Kurama's head that sounded an awful lot like Youko said.

Kurama frowned. Then sighed. At least Youko had gotten the assignment done… even if he _did_ cheat…

He snapped his bookbag shut and fell back on his bed, trying to get a little bit of sleep in before 6:30. But thoughts and memories kept running through his head… He remembered yesterday… while he was still in Youko form… his stalker friend had approached him in the school's hallway…

"_You're not Suichi_," she had said to Youko. "_Why are you Youko Kurama? When is Suichi going to be back_?"

She had known who Youko was… which meant that she had to have been at the Dark Tournament… either that, or she had been a demon in the Makai… That narrowed his search a little bit, but there were still plenty of girls at Dark Tournament… He figured it wasn't any of his immediate friends, like Keiko or Botan or Yukina… _It could be that Koto girl… or Juri…_ _the announcers…_ he thought. But what about the option that it could be somebody from the Makai? That could be anybody! After all, Suichi had originally been a demon in the Makai, and he had kept it a secret from most of the school; perhaps another girl was doing the same…?

Then he remembered what the girl had said after she had interrogated Youko: "_I just hope that he's back soon. I miss him…"_

She missed him… Kurama blushed. He hoped that she would be happy knowing that he was back...

* * *

"You're back!" the girl cried, running down the hallway to give Kurama a hug. Kurama met his stalker with a giant smile on his face and hugged her back. "I missed you so much!" she said, squeezing him tighter.

"Me too," Kurama said, breaking away from their hug. "And… thanks for the Sailor Moon shirt…" he said, unzipping his light jacket and revealing the red T-shirt with the Sailor Moon characters and the words "Girl Power!" on it.

The two of them laughed. "I knew that was some silly lie that Luna had made up," the girl said, "but I wanted to get it anyway, just to see the look on her face when I got it."

"Well… thanks for caring," Kurama said seriously. He grabbed her hand and caressed her soft skin lovingly. "Do you want to go to the park and grab some ice cream?" he asked.

The girl looked down for a minute. "The park…?" she asked. She didn't want to be seen in her disguise in a public place. "Well…"

"I mean that little field area by that old warehouse that nobody uses anymore," Kurama said. "We can raid the teacher's lounge for some ice cream. I get special access to their vending machines for being one of the top students."

The girl nodded. "Okay."

* * *

The two of them sat on a large slab of concrete, their backs to the old, abandoned warehouse, licking the ice cream off of the cones dipped in chocolate. Kurama smiled as the girl had shoved her facemask down to let her tongue lick off the tasty treat. He still couldn't tell who she was, even with half her face showing. But whoever she was, she was very beautiful…

Once the sun went down, Kurama's stalker said she had to go. With a parting kiss good-bye, she walked down the opposite road and disappeared. As Kurama was about to set off for home himself, he saw a familiar shadow walking down the sidewalk, dragging something. As the shadow came closer, he realized that it was Yukina.

Yukina was dragging a large, white leather suitcase and had a distant, sad look in her eyes. She looked more depressed than usual…

"Yukina!" Kurama said, running over to her.

Yukina turned in her tracks to look at him, her scarlet eyes staring into his, the expression of sorrow and sadness much deeper. Kurama stood up and walked over to her, touching her chin and lifting her head up. "What's the matter?" he asked, concerned. "What are you doing with that big suitcase?"

Yukina turned away, jerking her head out of Kurama's hand. "I'm leaving," she said.

"Leaving?"

"I'm going back to Koorime Island," she said sadly. "I can't stay here anymore… it hurts too much…"

"What do you mean…?"

"I came here and accomplished what I wanted to do," Yukina said, staring at the ground. "I found my brother, and I found true love… Unfortunately, they were the same person…"

"What?" Kurama asked, confused. "You… Hiei… he told you?"

"Yes," she said. She set her suitcase down on the sidewalk and shoved her face into Kurama's chest. "I loved him!" she sobbed, tear gems rolling off her face and onto the ground. "I loved him… but… he… he was him…"

"You loved Hiei, didn't you?" Kurama asked, grabbing Yukina's shoulders and wiping her tears away with his hands. "You loved him, but he was your brother."

"Yes." Yukina nodded. "And now I must go… I have to go back…"

"Why can't you stay?" Kurama asked. "Nobody's making you go back!"

"I am," Yukina said. "I don't want to stay here. I don't want to face Hiei anymore… I don't ever want to see him again! I'm sorry…" she picked her suitcase up off the ground and continued dragging it.

"Let me carry that," Kurama said, taking the suitcase and carrying it. "Thank you," Yukina said. "I just need to get into this warehouse and take the portal back…"

* * *

Inside the warehouse, the two of them saw a portal already materialized. Yukina grabbed her suitcase from Kurama, and, with tears in her eyes, she said, "Tell the others that I left. And tell them… tell them I'm sorry. Good-bye, Kurama." She stepped through the portal and disappeared.

* * *

NEXT TIME: MYSTERIOUS RESCUER AND BLUEBERRY PANCAKES!

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the long wait. But… haha, I crack myself up EVERY TIME with this line: "I found my brother, and I found true love… Unfortunately, they were the same person…" –haha. I love that. Okay, enough self-love. Please review!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	29. Mysterious Rescuer & Blueberry Pancakes

A/N: Ahhh, omg, I still have fans of this fic! I thought I was only gonna get like… one review. What a pleasant surprise! You guys ROCK! Just for you guys rocking so hardcore, I'm gonna give you all some matching salt and pepper shakers. n.n Love you guys! Please read and review!

* * *

**29. Mysterious Rescuer and Blueberry Pancakes

* * *

**

Yukina stepped through the portal and re-entered in the familiar world of Makai. She stepped on the light snow of her homeland, sighing as a sharp breeze blew across her face. She missed Hiei already, even though they could never be together. She felt bad for telling him to leave after he had told her the truth. At least he did… and didn't keep up the relationship… It was better that way…

She dragged her suitcase through the snow and watched the sun set in the distance. Just as it was starting to get really dark, something jumped out and grabbed Yukina from behind. The something's large, scaly hand covered Yukina's mouth, and it dragged her into a small grove of trees.

The demon took his hand away from her mouth, and Yukina screamed for help. "Shut up, wench!" he shouted, his voice raspy and harsh. "If you stay calm, I'll make sure your death is painless…"

"What?" Yukina shouted. "SOMEBODY HELP ME, PLEASE!"

The demon slapped her hard across the face, knocking her to the frozen, snow-covered ground. Yukina winced painfully, pushing herself back up. The demon, she could see, was a large lizard-like being, with large, protruding eyes and scaly skin. He had a knife in one hand and a large, round bottle with a long neck and a cork stopper in the other. He growled, his fangs showing and his skinny lizard tongue flicking out and making a hissing noise.

Yukina screamed for help once more, but the lizard demon was true to his word that he would kill her and brought his knife down where her leg would've been if she hadn't moved. Yukina was terrified; she was really going to die… She bit her lip and a teargem rolled down her cheek. Momentarily distracted by the shiny teargem, the lizard demon looked down at it and stared. "PLEASE HELP ME!" Yukina shouted into the sky.

* * *

A young, teenaged man heard Yukina's cry for help. He heard it coming from the small forest on Koorime Island, and he ran as fast as he could to the source of the crying. He pushed aside the trees and shrubs, getting small scratches on his face, arms, and legs from the protruding twigs and branches. Finally, he spotted a young ice apparition girl on the ground and a large, ugly lizard demon above her, holding a knife.

"Drop the knife!" the man commanded.

The lizard demon looked over at the young man, but he couldn't see him very clearly in the darkness. Neither could Yukina, who squinted in the dim light, but she still couldn't make out any distinct features on the man.

"Drop the knife," the man repeated.

"And what if I don't?" sneered the demon, his face contorted into an ugly grin. "I need this girl to make a potion of beauty to make me beautiful."

"Hmph. You'll never be beautiful with such an evil soul!" the man said. "No matter how beautiful you look on the outside, you'll still be evil and heartless on the inside! Killing a beautiful young woman like her!"

The lizard demon narrowed its eyes in anger. "Maybe I'll just kill you too along with the girl to make you shut up," he said. "I don't need your preaching!"

"I don't think so," the man said, darting into the clearing and picking up Yukina bridal-style and whisking her away from the forest clearing. Both Yukina and the lizard demon were shocked. He had an amazing speed and grace and had scooped up Yukina easily (not that she weighed much anyway…). Yukina turned her neck to get a look at the man's face, but his face was kept in shadow and she couldn't see him very well in the clear, starless night sky.

He set her down far away from the clearing, then turned and left. "I'll send your suitcase to you later," he said. "You just go home now and stay out of trouble." He walked away.

Yukina ran after him. "Hey, wait!" she cried. "Wait! I want to thank you!"

"No need," the man replied, his back still turned to her.

"But…" Yukina stopped. She sighed as her shoulders fall. _Who was that guy…?_ she wondered. She sighed again and begin to walk back to her home.

* * *

"Rise and shine…" It was Wednesday morning, and Kurama was sleeping peacefully in his bed, dreaming about him and his stalker dancing in the moonlight. "Come on, Suichi, wake up!"

Kurama opened his eyes and saw his stalker friend peering over at him, her eyes closed in a smile. His face broke into a grin as he greeted her. "Good morning," he said.

"Same to you," the girl said, turning her back and messing around with something behind her. She turned back and set down a tray of blueberry pancakes and orange juice on Kurama's lap. Kurama was shocked at first; he hadn't expected breakfast in bed!

"Wow, thank you!" Kurama said, turning to his stalker and receiving a kiss on the cheek. "But…" he looked down uneasily.

"What is it? Don't like pancakes?" the girl asked, her eyes widening with worry.

"No, no, I actually love pancakes," said Kurama with a smile. "It's just that… I feel bad receiving all of your gifts. I mean, I haven't gotten you much… I haven't done anything for you…"

The girl's eyes softened. "Don't worry about it," she said seriously. "You've done enough for me already…"

* * *

NEXT TIME: PRINCE CHARMING'S INVITATION AND SECRETS!

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--crazykitsune17-- 


	30. Prince Charming's Invitation and Secrets

A/N: Only 3 chapters left guys… The suspense mounts up… some more! Yay! Sorry for the delay. FFN didn't want to load up this chapter so I had to convert it to a .txt thing. Please read and review!

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**30. Prince Charming's Invitation and Secrets**

* * *

The same morning, Yukina awoke in her room in the Makai to find that her suitcase had been brought to her in the middle of the night. It was sitting upright against the window, the sun's rays shining brightly on it.

The sun not only shone on the white leather, but also on a white envelope on top of it. Intrigued, Yukina stood up and walked over to her suitcase. The envelope was just plain white in color, no name or address on it. Picking it up, she delicately slid her finger under the flap and untucked the envelope. She pulled out the letter written on white stationery with a red checkered trim.

"'Dear Ice Apparition'," Yukina read aloud. "'I have reason to believe that you are in contact with the Spirit World Detective, Yusuke Urameshi. His school is having a School's-Out Dance in two days, and I would be happy if you would come. Don't worry about looking for me—I'll look for you. Yours truly, The Man of Mystery.'" Yukina looked up at the brightly shining sky and sighed with delight. She knew that the so-called "Man of Mystery" just had to be the man from last night. The guy who had rescued her from the bloodlusting lizard demon.

"Two days," Yukina breathed, holding the letter to her chest. "Two days…" She smiled, thinking of how good it felt to be in love again. Even if she had only known the man for about two seconds… But it was still love in her eyes… A simple little "love-crush"…

* * *

It was almost eleven o'clock at night when Kurama heard the noise below his window. He set down the book he was reading and walked over to the window. In the dim light of the night, he could see that his stalker was standing right underneath the window. He quietly slid open the window and saw her wave. He waved back then put one finger up to signal to wait a second. He slid open his closet and pulled out a box on the top shelf. Pulling out a thick rope and placing the lid back on the box, he walked over to the window and threw the rope down.

"I hope you don't mind climbing," he said softly, but just loud enough so that the girl could hear him.

With no hesitation, the girl set her foot on the big knot at the bottom of the rope and began to climb up. Kurama smiled in satisfaction; he was glad that the girl wasn't a baby and wasn't afraid of climbing up a two-story house on a rope.

Grabbing her hand once she was at the top, he pulled her in to his bedroom. He coiled the rope neatly back up and placed it in the box. "Hello," he said. "What brings you here so late?"

"I dunno," the girl said. "I couldn't sleep, and I wanted to see you." Kurama smiled and put his hands on her shoulders, guiding her out of the room. "Good, because I was just thinking about you, and I wanted to see you as well," he said. "Now, be quiet when we're walking out of here. I don't want Luna or Mother to wake up."

"Where are we going?" the girl whispered.

"Somewhere special," Kurama answered, grabbing a light jacket for himself on his way out. "Somewhere we can be alone under the stars."

The girl smiled and chuckled a little. "Sounds romantic," she said, pausing at the door as Kurama slipped on his shoes. He unlocked the front door, locked it again from the outside, and set off with his stalker into the night.

* * *

"Hm," Kurama said as they walked toward a nicely kept alleyway under the stars. "I guess a lot of other people had the same idea we did…"

He was right; a few other couples were in the same spot, some on top of the roofs of the surrounding building and another couple underneath a large elm tree. There was also another couple sitting on a bench… a familiar couple…

Kurama gasped. "Hiei…?" he whispered, approaching the bench, his stalker following behind him.

Hiei and Shizuru were sitting on the bench, both staring out into space, neither saying a word to each other. Kurama moved toward the two and greeted them. "Hey," he said, bringing the two of them from their trance.

Hiei instantly wiped the slightly dreamy look on his face and swapped it for a scowl. "What are you doing here?" he growled.

"Same thing everybody else is doing," Kurama answered. "I came here with my friend." He gestured toward his stalker, who shyly put up her hand in greeting. Shizuru looked at her with interest. I wonder who she is…? she thought silently to herself.

Kurama glanced at Shizuru for a moment, then looked back at Hiei with question in his eyes. Hiei glared at Kurama but dragged him away from the two girls whispering, "I'll tell you over there…" He led a confused Kurama into one of the nearby buildings, leaving Shizuru and the stalker alone.

"Hey," Shizuru said, "Kur—er, Suichi doesn't know who you are, does he?"

The girl shook her head no.

Shizuru glanced around, making sure nobody could hear her. "Can you tell me?" she asked. "I swear I won't tell a soul."

The girl hesitated. Could Shizuru be trusted? After all, she didn't want to have her tell Kurama and spoil the surprise so close to the dance…

"Come on, I really wanna know," she said. "You can trust me. Kurama's my friend, and I wouldn't tell him who you are just to see him suffer from confusion." She smiled slyly. "So… will you tell?"

The girl bit her lip and looked away for a moment. Then she said, "Okay. I'll show you, but you have to promise not to tell. And don't tell anybody! Don't tell Suichi, don't tell your brother, don't tell Yusuke—"

"You know Yusuke and baby bro?" Shizuru interrupted.

"Yes, I do," the stalker cut in. Then she lowered her hood, whipping it off her head for a moment, letting her hair billow out in the wind. Shizuru gasped. "You?"

The girl nodded. "Please, don't tell," she begged.

"I won't," Shizuru said honestly. "Now put that hood back on, what if the boys come back?"

The girl nodded, putting her hood back on her head and tucking all of her stray hairs away. "You know, you're the only one besides myself and Suichi's sister who knows who I really am," she said. "It feels kind of good to have told somebody… you know… keeping secrets…" Shizuru smiled. "Your secret's safe with me," she said. "Now, act like this never happened, okay? I think I see the boys coming back…"

* * *

NEXT TIME: KUWABARA'S LAST-MINUTE DATE AND GENKAI'S RETURN!

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-crazykitsune17- 


	31. Kuwabara's Last Minute Date

A/N: Since I didn't know how to mess with Japanese currency and how much it's worth when I wrote this (I still don't), the money is just in American dollars. Only two chapters left, w00t! Sorry for the slight Kuwabara-bash... o.o;

* * *

**31. Kuwabara's Last-Minute Date and Genkai's Return

* * *

**

It was Thursday morning, and Kuwabara was starting to get desperate. He still didn't have a date for Friday's dance. Yukina had dumped him, Botan nearly killed herself, Keiko beat him up, and so did Shizuru. He was just going to have to ask a random girl and see if she'll say yes…

But, to save him the pain of getting beat up anymore, he decided to post flyers. During lunch period, he was in the library with a stack of paper and a bin full of colorful markers. On twenty pieces of paper he hastily scrawled:

"Want a Sexy, Hot Date for Friday's Dance? Meet Me After School in the East Parking Lot!"

Smiling at his handiwork, he began to post the flyers up around the school. _Now we'll see how many girls go after me now…_ he thought happily as he skipped back to lunch, only to find out that there was barely a minute left in the period.

* * *

"What's this?" a girl said, pointing at one of Kuwabara's hand-written flyers. "'Want a Sexy, Hot Date for Fridays' Dance?'" She looked at one of her friends. "Who the hell does that?" 

A few of her friends giggled. "If he's so sexy, why does he need to resort to anonymous flyers posted around the school to get a date for a dance?" one asked snobbishly.

"Well, what's it matter?" said another one of her friends. "I still don't have a date yet, so what the heck?"

* * *

Finally, it was after school, and Kuwabara was sitting on the bench in the East Parking Lot, waiting for his stream of ladies to come begging him for a date. He could picture it now…

* * *

"_Oh, Kuwabara, you're sooo sexy!" A girl touched his left shoulder, running her smooth hands up and down it. Kuwabara grinned, a satisfied smile on his face. "So, then… will you come to the dance with me?" he asked._

"_Of course, I would, you sexy hunk of cheeseburger…"

* * *

_

"Uh… hello?"

A girl's voice brought Kuwabara out of his daydream. There were about five or six girls behind her. _Great! They must all want to date me!_ he thought happily.

"Um, where's the hot, sexy guy?" one of the girls asked.

"Right here!" said Kuwabara, showing off his muscles and putting on a masculine pose.

Almost all of the girls made disgusted and horrified faces. They all ran away, screaming. Only one girl was left. A mean-looking tall second year with long, dark brown hair and scarlet eyes was left, her cold glare boring into Kuwabara's skull.

"You desperate?" she asked him, a hint of malice in her tone.

Kuwabara nodded sadly, dropping his masculine pose.

"I'll go with you," she said.

Kuwabara perked up. A goofy smile played across his face as he said, "Really?" He almost couldn't believe it! In junior high, he had never had a date for dances… This was totally new to him...

"On one condition."

"Anything!"

"How much money you got?" the girl asked.

"Uh…" Kuwabara thought for a moment. "Um… maybe a couple hundred dollars?"

"That'll work," said the girl. "I charge a hundred dollars an hour, but don't expect anything fancy. No kissing, no sex, holding hands and hugging are an extra fifty dollars."

"Deal!" said Kuwabara, shaking the girl's hand.

"Get your hands off me," the girl said disgustedly. "I'm not doing this because I like you, okay? Consider it a favor. Plus, I need the money." She was about to turn away, then she remembered she hadn't told him her name. "Oh, I'm Kira Atoshi," she said. "Pick me at my house at seven." She handed him what looked like a business card, but it was actually her address, phone number, and e-mail.

"Do you always keep these handy?" Kuwabara asked.

Kira blinked. "Is that any of your business what I do with my personal information?"

"…No…"

"Right. Now shut up and don't talk to me again until tomorrow night."

Kuwabara didn't care that Kira had been so rude to him. He was just happy that he finally had a date!

* * *

"See ya, Botan!" Yusuke was dropping Botan off at her house after the two of them had went to go see a movie. It was late at night, around 10:30… 

"Bye bye, Yusuke!" Botan said, blowing a kiss at him. Yusuke smiled. Botan must've really liked him. She was acting awfully flirtatious around him. _Which I don't mind…_ he added to himself as Botan unlocked her door and closed it tightly behind her.

Just then, something came out from behind the bushes, nearly scaring Yusuke half to death. He jumped back in surprise and found a short old lady in front of him—Genkai. "Genkai?" he gasped. "What are you doing here?"

Genkai didn't say anything.

Yusuke's shock quickly turned to anger. "You've got a lot of nerve coming here, you know!" he hissed. "What will all the trouble you caused as that Spritzy girl!"

"I know that, dimwit," said Genkai. "Now shut up and listen."

Yusuke stopped, listening intently to what his teacher had to say.

"I know you're probably not too great with the ladies," she started.

"Hey!" interjected Yusuke. "What's that supposed to mean! For all you know, I'm quite the stud around here!"

Genkai went on. "Don't do all of that stupid tough-guy stuff that you do. It's lame, and it won't attract girls at all. Girls like getting gifts, and guys who like them for who they are. Just be yourself, actually dance with her, Yusuke, and try not to embarrass yourself."

Anger rose up slightly in the Spirit Detective. "Why are you telling _me_ this?" he asked indignantly. "I wasn't going to make an idiot of myself at the dance! Geez!"

"Well, I was worried. You are awful immature sometimes."

"Me, Immature?" Yusuke folded his arms and stuck his tongue out at Genkai. "Psh. Yeah right…"

Genkai sighed and rolled her eyes. She dug into her pockets and pulled out a large wad of bills. Yusuke uncrossed his arms and stared at the pile of money with awe. Genkai handed him the bills wordlessly. Yusuke took it, and just stared at it.

"Wh-what? Why?" Yusuke asked. "What's all this for?"

"It's a good portion of all my cash," she said. "Take it, and buy Botan something nice with it. And I mean Botan, Yusuke. Don't go buying yourself videogames or anything with it! Also, take it as my apology for what I did at your school."

"But… why?"

"I'm leaving the country," Genkai said. "I don't need that much money where I'm going."

"You… you're leaving?" Yusuke asked, his tone suddenly taking on a hint of disappointment and concern. "Where are you going? Why?"

"Has anyone ever told you that you ask too many questions?" Genkai said irritably. "I'm going to some island in the Caribbean to go enjoy the rest of my life there. Happy now?"

"Genkai…"

"Oh, don't get all sappy again!" Genkai snapped. "It's not like I'm going to die again! Get over it!"

"Genkai…"

"Is that all you can say, slacker?"

"I'm going to miss you," Yusuke said, stuffing the cash into his pocket and giving the old woman a hug. Genkai looked momentarily stupefied, then returned the hug like a normal person would. She broke away quickly, saying, "Okay, that's enough of that. Now, good-bye, Yusuke. And take care of your girlfriend."

She left without another word.

* * *

NEXT TIME: THE DANCE AND EVIL CLIFFHANGERS!

* * *

A/N: Hmm, I wonder what will happen in the next chapter:ponders this: Heh. My "sexy hunk of cheeseburger" line was one of my better ones from this fic, along with that "Yukina found true love and her brother... unfortunately they were the same person" one. XD Heh. Just my personal faves. o.o Please review! 


	32. The Dance and Evil Cliffhangers

A/N: Heh, sorry about the delay in updating… I was… erm… busy… :awkward face: ANYWAY! Here is the next, "penultimate" – haha big word! – chapter in "Kurama's Stalker". It's kinda "blah blah blah, la-de-dah" but… OH WELL! XD Still a chapter. Heheh. Enjoy, please review!

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**32. The Dance and Evil Cliffhangers

* * *

**

It was Friday morning, and everybody was excited at Black Panda High. The dance was that night at seven, and everywhere you went, students were chatting animatedly about their dates, their dresses, and if they planned to kiss or not.

But there was one person who was especially excited—Kurama. Tonight was the night he would finally find out who his stalker was! He could hardly sleep the previous night; he kept tossing and turning, thinking about who his stalker could possibly be. But he was still bright and perky in the morning, especially after he had found a note in his locker:

_Today's the day. See you at the dance. :-P_

_-Your Secret Admirer_

Kurama smiled, tucking the note into his textbook for first period. He would carry it with him all day….

* * *

Finally, it was almost time for the dance. All of the students at Black Panda High were at their homes, getting ready for the school's last dance of the year. The girls were all putting on their stylish dresses; the boys were suiting up in their suits and ties, their nice sweaters and khakis…

But one boy wanted to look extra-spiffy for that night. Kuwabara posed in front of his mirror, admiring the ancient tuxedo that used to belong to his father. He adjusted the corsage on his lapel and grinned. He thought that he looked nice. He glanced at the clock. It was 6:30. He had to go and pick up his date. He grabbed a couple hundred dollar bills off his dresser and dashed off to the garage.

He dragged out his old two-person bicycle and pedaled as fast as he could down the street, glancing occasionally at the slip of paper that his date, Kira Atoshi, had given him with her address. He finally found the house and hopped off his bike, adjusting his collar as he rang the doorbell.

Kira's father opened the door, a cold, hard stare on his mustachioed face. Kuwabara nervously cleared his throat and said, "Good evening, sir. I am Kazuma Kuwabara, and I'm here to pick up your daughter."

Without saying a word, Kira's father opened the door further, revealing the sullen-looking second year. The father and daughter were almost identical; they both had cold stares that sent shivers up Kuwabara's spine, they both had the same chocolate-brown hair, and even almost the same body build.

Kuwabara smiled weakly and held out his hand for Kira, who ignored his romantic gesture. She wore a stunning white, spaghetti-strap silk dress that went down to her ankles and was decorated with sparkly sequins. She looked absolutely beautiful. "Uh, you look great," said Kuwabara. Kira ignored him again; she waved to her parents and shut the door behind her.

"All right, I'm here, now fork over the money," Kira ordered sharply, holding out her hand.

Kuwabara hesitated. "I dunno…"

"You have the money, don't you?" asked Kira brusquely.

"Yeah, but—"

"Then hand it over."

"But… what if you just take off with the money?"

Kira smiled coldly. "Well, now, it turns you really aren't quite the hopeless dimwit I expected. Well, you can trust me, Kazuma Kuwabara, because my parents are expecting me to be out the whole night. My father spent a lot of money on this dress, and I don't want to let his gracious spending go to waste. Otherwise, I would just run off with your money."

That made Kuwabara feel a little bit better. "Okay," he said, digging out two hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and handing them to Kira, who stuffed them in her purse. "Now hop on!" he said, gesturing to his old two-person bicycle. Kira looked momentarily disgusted, but she shrugged when she knew that Kuwabara was younger and couldn't drive, so she would just have to go to the dance in a less glamorous fashion…

* * *

Yukina walked along the darkening city streets on her way to the Black Panda High School. She was wearing a light, summery white yukata with an ocean-blue colored obi and matching sandals. Her hair was put up into a decorated messy bun, accented with shimmering silver sparkles and a shiny gold ribbon. She looked absolutely stunning as she quietly walked on the sidewalk, thinking about her anonymous date for the night…

_I can't wait to find out who he is,_ she thought happily. Then she looked down in sadness. _But… what if he doesn't come…? What if all that was just a joke… or just a dream?_ She shook her head, erasing that thought from her head. She looked up and saw a twittering blue jay in a tree and seeing it made her happy again. _I'll bet that bird is telling me to have a good time, _Yukina thought, smiling and picking up her pace. _Don't worry, bird. I will have a good time…

* * *

_

"Hurry up, Botan! We're gonna be late!" Yusuke cried impatiently, standing in the entryway of Botan's small house.

"Just a minute, Yusuke, I have to put on my makeup!" Botan said.

"Stop putting on your stupid makeup!" he yelled. "You look fine the way you are!"

Botan in the bathroom smiled as she recapped her tube of lipstick. _You look fine the way you are… _he had said. Yusuke didn't know it, but that meant a lot to Botan. It meant that he didn't like her just because she was pretty, he liked her for the way she was. And that's what she wanted. She wanted Yusuke to love her for her personality and charm. She stepped out of the bathroom, grabbing her purse and smiled at Yusuke.

Yusuke's eyes widened as he tried to take in all of Botan's beauty. She was wearing a long, pink dress that looked very similar to her normal ferrygirl kimono, but it looked even more beautiful. Her hair was still in the high ponytail, but the ends were all curled and had a special spray in them to make them light and bouncy. Yusuke grinned and said, "You look great."

"Thanks," Botan said. "You look good too." She nodded at his black dress pants with a slight tear in the knee and crisp, white, untucked dress shirt with a button-up front and pocket on his chest. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting. Let's go."

* * *

Hiei walked down the street, his hands in the pockets of his baggy black pants. He decided to go to the dance that was at Kurama's school, just to see what it was like. He was also secretly hoping that Shizuru would come… He had tried to dress up for the occasion, but he decided that he didn't look good in khakis or dress sweaters, so he went in his usual attire—the black pants and ripped blue tank shirt. He also carried his katana in a hilt, just in case…

Shizuru was walking down the opposite side of the street, not really looking where she was going. She was also headed for the dance at her brother's high school. Her reason was that she wanted to "look after baby bro", but the real reason was that she hoped to meet up with Hiei… She wasn't the type of person for dressing up either, so she was wearing a nice pair white gauchos and a matching blazer over a silky white tank top.

The two kept walking from opposite ends, neither watching where they were walking. In a moment's time, they both ran into each other—literally. Hiei's head collided with her chest, and Shizuru nearly tripped.

They both looked up, embarrassed. "Sorry," they said at the same time, blushing.

Shizuru smiled. "Hey, there, runt," she said. "What are you doing out at this hour?"

Hiei blinked. "I think I should be asking you the same question," he said, the tiniest hint of a tease in his voice.

Shizuru didn't answer. She looked away at a spot on the ground and said, "I asked you first."

Hiei scowled. He didn't want to tell her that he was looking forward to meeting her at the school dance. Shizuru's eyes locked on his, and she knew his answer without him having to say it. "You came to go crash the dance, didn't you?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Hn," Hiei grunted.

"Me too," said Shizuru, putting her hands in her blazer's pockets. "I was actually kind of hoping I'd run into you here."

Hiei's eyes widened. "Really." he said, more of a statement then a question. Shizuru nodded anyway. Hiei looked down. "Hn… me too…" he said, barely audibly.

Shizuru smiled again. "Let's go, then!" She grabbed his hand and they ran to the school. Hiei had to keep slowing down for Shizuru to catch up, but they were both laughing and having fun.

"I think you beat me," Shizuru said as Hiei tapped his foot impatiently at the school's entrance. "Yeah, I think I did," said Hiei as he held the door open for Shizuru.

* * *

Kurama, dressed his own nice, off-white, Chinese-style dress shirt and matching pants, entered the gym through the back way and looked in at the glamorous interior. The gym had been decorated with multi-colored balloons, streamers, and confetti; it looked very festive and cheerful.

Kurama stepped in, looking for his stalker. He remembered what she had said almost two weeks ago: _"I will meet you at the school. I'll be wearing red dress and carrying a red rose with a gold ribbon tied around it. Look for me."_

He looked around for anybody with a red dress or a red rose. He finally spotted someone, standing in the far corner of the gym. His heart pounding with excitement, he made his way toward her.

She was wearing a spaghetti-strap, knee-length red dress with matching high-heeled shoes. In one hand, she held a perfect, beautiful, red rose with a gold ribbon tied around it, and in the other she held a fan with a cherry blossom pattern on it. The fan covered up most of her face except her eyes. However, her eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses, and the rest of her head was hidden under a black baseball cap with a flame on it. Kurama smiled at her; he knew this was the girl. Why else would she make so much trouble just to hide her identity at a formal dance?

The girl lowered her fan and smiled at him, handing him the flawless red rose. She then took off her sunglasses, folded them up, and put them in her purse. Next, she removed her baseball cap, letting her hair cascade back down and rest around her shoulders. She looked absolutely beautiful, now that she had revealed herself as…

* * *

NEXT TIME: UNVEILING THE STALKER AND A DANCE TO REMEMBER!

* * *

A/N: Dun dun dun! XD

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


	33. Unveiling the Stalker

A/N: All riiiight, finally, last chapter! w00t, all of you guys have been SO incredibly patient it's like… not even funny. You guys kick total tailfin. You'll get your extra thank-yous at the end, I'll let you just plain read the chapter now. n.n

* * *

**33. Unveiling the Stalker and a Dance to Remember

* * *

**

LAST TIME: _The girl lowered her fan and smiled at him, handing him the flawless red rose. She then took off her sunglasses, folded them up, and put them in her purse. Next, she removed her baseball cap, letting her hair cascade back down and rest around her shoulders. She looked absolutely beautiful, now that she had revealed herself as…

* * *

_

Keiko.

At first, Kurama was shocked. Keiko? Never in a million years would he have guessed that his own personal stalker would be Keiko Yukimura… But he was glad. He was glad that it was Keiko. He smiled. "Hey there… Keiko."

Keiko breathed a sigh of relief. She was hoping that Kurama would still like her once she had revealed who she was. She wrapped her arms around Kurama's neck and kissed him passionately on the lips, enjoying the romantic moment…

…until Hiei and Shizuru came along and ruined it. The two of them walked in and immediately spotted Kurama and Keiko in the corner, locking lips like there was no tomorrow. With a disgusted look on his face, Hiei nudged Kurama hard on the shoulder, making his appearance known to them.

"Get a room," he said jokingly as he tried to turn his smile into a glare.

Kurama blushed and smiled too. "Hello, Hiei," he said. Shizuru made eye contact with Keiko and winked. Shizuru was one of the only ones who knew who Keiko actually was, and Shizuru was glad that Kurama and Keiko were still getting along well after she had revealed herself. That was Keiko's one big fear: _What if he doesn't like me anymore after I show him who I am…? What happens once allure of mystery is gone…? _But it was no longer a fear to her – she knew that Kurama loved her just the way she was, and that made everyone happy.

Next, Botan and Yusuke walked through the door, both looking very nice and spiffy in their formal dress clothes, even though Yusuke looked like he wanted to tear the sweater he was wearing into little tiny pieces and burn them. "Hi!" Botan shouted loudly, waving at Kurama, Keiko, Hiei, and Shizuru.

They all waved back, but Kurama and Keiko noticed that Yusuke was avoiding Keiko's eyes. Keiko's heart melted; she knew she probably hurt Yusuke a lot just be being there with another boy, but she just couldn't continue her relationship with the Spirit Detective; she didn't feel anything for him anymore. It was all Kurama now…

"You and Botan make such a cute couple," she complimented, trying to lift Yusuke's spirits. Both Yusuke and Botan blushed, Botan giggling a little bit.

"Uh, thanks…" Yusuke said, flustered.

Botan looked at Hiei and remembered Keiko telling her that she had a crush on him. She also remembered that Shizuru did also. She didn't know about Kurama's stalker, and she was about to ask which girl Hiei was with when she was interrupted by Kuwabara and his date, some girl they didn't know, walking in.

Kuwabara had a smug, pleased-with-himself look on his face like he saying, "You guys were wrong, I _am_ a sexy hunk of cheeseburger._ I_ got a hot date!" As he walked with Kira over to his friends, all of their mouths dropped open.

"Woah, Kuwabara, how did you manage actually getting a date?" Yusuke asked, his mouth open as wide as it would go.

"It's amazing what money can buy, my friend," Kuwabara whispered huskily to him.

Yusuke rolled his eyes. _Of course…_

"So what's her name, baby bro?" Shizuru asked, staring at Kira with dislike.

"Kira Atoshi," Kira said, crossing her arms. "And just so you don't get the wrong idea, I'm not here because I actually _like_ your little friend here, I'm just here because I'm getting paid good money to do this. So if you just leave me to my brooding, we'll get along fine."

It was all everyone else could do to keep from laughing. Even Hiei had a tiny hint of a smile on his face.

At that moment, Yukina walked into the school's gym, looking stunning in her white yukata. Kuwabara's eyes nearly popped out of his head at her beauty; despite the fact that Yukina didn't love him, he still had feelings for her, and those feelings were made much stronger by Yukina's spectacular appearance. "Hey, Yukina-chan," he said in a fakey masculine voice. "You're lookin' good tonight."

Hiei shot a murderous glare at Kuwabara, who immediately shut up. "Yukina doesn't love you, and you will not flirt with her," he said threateningly. Kuwabara nodded and kept his mouth shut. Kira didn't even seem to notice…

"Hello," Yukina said, smiling. "Has anybody been looking for me?"

They all shook their heads no. "Why would somebody be looking for you?" Shizuru asked bluntly.

"I was asked to come here by an anonymous man who rescued me when I went back to the Makai for a while," Yukina replied. Almost everybody looked confused.

"When did you go to the Makai?" Yusuke asked.

"A few days ago," Yukina said offhandedly. "It was no big deal…"

Just then, a handsome teenaged boy with gorgeous brown hair appeared by Yukina's side, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Hello, Yukina," he said.

Yukina turned around and saw herself face-to-face with the teenaged Koenma. "Koenma-sama!" she gasped. "It was you who rescued me from that demon in the Makai?"

"Yes it was," said Koenma, flipping his hair. "You look beautiful tonight, Yukina."

Yukina giggled and blushed. _So it was Koenma who rescued me…_ she thought. _I'm glad. I like Koenma…_

Botan was getting impatient; she kept getting interrupted when she wanted to ask Hiei who he was with. Finally, she just blurted out, "Hiei, which girl are you with?"

Hiei looked down and grunted, "Shizuru…"

"Ohhh…!" Botan giggled. "Shizuru, you lucky girl!" Shizuru's face turned a dark shade of crimson. Then Botan looked at Keiko. "But what about you? I thought you like Hiei too!"

Nearly everyone in the group stared at Keiko. "What?" they all said in unison.

Keiko blushed. "I'm sorry, Hiei!" she apologized. "It was a lie. I didn't want to tell you who I really liked, Botan, so I just said the first person that came to my head!"

"Oooh, you're a sneaky one," Shizuru said teasingly, pinching Keiko's cheek. Meanwhile, Hiei pretended not to look offended.

"The person I really love is Kurama," Keiko finished with a shy smile.

"And I love you too," Kurama said, putting his arm around Keiko's shoulders and pulling her closer to his body.

Botan went crazy. "Oh, you two make such a cute couple!" she gushed. "I never would've guessed that you two liked each other! Oh my gosh, I should start writing out invitations—"

"Invitations for what?" Keiko asked nervously.

"Well, your wedding of course!"

Keiko and Kurama blushed furiously. "Uh…"

* * *

The night seemed to fly by much too fast for everyone's liking. All of the couples shared lots of dances, ate lots of cookies, and got dumped on by falling confetti numerous times. It was, without a doubt, the best night of their lives.

Shizuru and Hiei had even confessed their love for each other that night. They tried to get away from all of the people so they could do it in private but little did they know, Botan had led everybody to go eavesdrop on them and they heard it all:

* * *

"Hiei, there's something I have to tell you," Shizuru said seriously.

"Me too," said Hiei.

"You first."

Hiei took a deep breath and whispered in Shizuru's ear, "I love you."

Shizuru smiled broadly and gave Hiei the biggest bear hug she could. "I love you too, Hiei!" she said. "I'm glad you feel the same way…" And she leaned down to kiss Hiei….

* * *

The group had laughed so hard after they saw Shizuru and Hiei kiss, that everyone turned to stare at them. The yearbook committee grabbed their cameras and took numerous pictures of the romantic scene. Shizuru and Hiei finally noticed that nearly everybody in the whole gym was staring at them and both blushed the color of Kurama's hair.

Shizuru and Hiei weren't the only ones who enjoyed themselves. Despite her bitter disposition, Kira had even had fun with Kuwabara. Kuwabara was so funny, trying so hard to act all macho in front of her. She had enjoyed herself that night; she never got to make fun of anybody so much in such a short amount of time…

"Hey, Kuwabara," she said as everybody was heading home for the night. "Since you were such a stupid idiot, I'll give you a discount. This will only cost you twenty dollars." She handed Kuwabara eighty dollars from his hundred dollar bill and smiled. "See you later, loser." She winked.

Kurama chuckled. "Looks like this is a happy ending for everybody," he said.

"Yep," said Keiko. "A most happy ending indeed…" And Kurama leaned down to give Keiko one last kiss...

* * *

END

* * *

A/N: Wooo, that ending was corny as crap. I had forgotten how infinitely bad it was… / Eh. Well, everybody's got a love interest here, we're all happy, w00t w00t hooray. Anyway, thank ALL OF YOU SO MUCH for sticking with this story, reading, reviewing, adding me to your favorites and such. That's awesome. Thanks thanks thanks again, and don't forget to pick up a complimentary Puu-shaped cookie that even talks! Oh yeah, and YES, there is a sequel to this. Umm... what's it called... uhhh… "Reunion", that's it! So yeah. Stay tuned for that one. Thanks so much again, you guys rock!

* * *

--crazykitsune17-- 


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